Turkey announces scholarship for Karabakh victims

SIVAS,Turkey

A Turkish university on Thursday announced scholarships for victims of Armenian attacks on Azerbaijan.

Alim Yildiz, the president of Cumhuriyet University in central Sivas province, said they have been working to design a scholarship program for the children of the Azerbaijani martyrs.

He was speaking at a reception organized for Azerbaijani football team Karabakh FK.

Later, the representatives of the football team and some Azerbaijani business people visited Yildiz at his office.

The Azerbaijani delegation was welcomed at the campus by Turkish and Azeri flags.

The university president expressed solidarity with the Azerbaijani people in the wake of ongoing clashes in the Upper-Karabakh region.

"We will look after the children of the fallen Azerbaijani martyrs in Upper Karabakh. We will give them scholarships," he said.

Since clashes began on Sept. 27, at least 92 civilians including 11 children have lost their lives, according to Azerbaijan's Chief Prosecutor Office. More than 400 people have been wounded; among them dozens are children.

Several thousand houses and residential buildings have been raised to the ground in these attacks.

Upper Karabakh conflict

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Four UN Security Council resolutions and two from the UN General Assembly, as well as international organizations, demand the "immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces" from the occupied Azerbaijani territory.

About 20% of Azerbaijan's territory -- including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions -- has been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

A cease-fire, however, was agreed to in 1994.

World powers, including Russia, France, and the US, have called for a sustainable cease-fire. Turkey, meanwhile, has supported Baku's right to self-defense and demanded the withdrawal of Armenia's occupying forces.

*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk