Turkey Rejects Armenian Defense Ministry Claim Its Jet Shot Down By Turkish F-16

Turkey’s Defense Ministry has vehemently denied its F-16 fighter shot down an Armenian SU-25 fighter, as claimed earlier by the Armenian Defense Ministry.

Armenia’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) had earlier issued a shock announcement signaling massive escalation and alleged intervention by Turkey. The MoD had claimed Turkey’s F-16 shot down an Armenian Sukhoi Su-25 from Azerbaijni territory in support of Azeri forces.

A spokesman for Erdogan subsequently called reports that Turkey shot down an Armenian fighter jet “absolutely not true,” according to Bloomberg.

But the allegation and initial claim out of Yerevan was still enough to momentarily send the Turkish lira crashing on the news to a new record low, already from previous historic lows this week.

“Armenia should withdraw from territories under its occupation instead of resorting to these cheap propaganda tricks,” the Turkish presidency’s office said.

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry also denied that any warplanes were shot down, according to RIA.

And further, as BBC reports, “Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that its air force does not have F-16 fighter jets. However, Turkey does.”