Armenia calls for suspending drone tech exports to Turkey

Armenia calls for suspending drone tech exports to Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has urged countries supplying Turkey with the components of Bayraktar drones to suspend future shipments, given that the UAVs are being used to strike Armenian positions and civilian settlement in Karabakh.

Pashinyan said Tuesday, October 20 that the Karabakh troops have downed at least 10 Bayrakdar drones since the beginning of hostilities on September 27, and only one of them has landed on the Armenian soil.

"What makes this so important is that this is more evidence of Turkey’s direct engagement in preparations and the terrorist fight against Artsakh," Pashinyan said.

Canada suspended arms exports to Turkey as it investigates the use of Canadian technology in the Karabakh conflict, and the Armenian PM is calling for everyone else to follow suit.

The Turkish drone shot down by Nagorno-Karabakh troops on Monday had operated a total of 31 hours, Armenian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said Tuesday.

"The optics and sensor pod mounted on the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle is an L3 WESCAM CMX-15D model, designed by WESCAM in Ontario, Canada, a subsidiary of L3Harris Technologies," Stepanyan said.

"It was manufactured in June 2020 and attached on the UCAV in September 2020.

Azerbaijan, with help from Turkey and Syrian and Libyan mercenaries deployed by Ankara, started a war against Karabakh (Artsakh) in the morning of September 27. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military. Foreign and local journalists too have been injured in Azeri shelling of towns and villages.

Donations can be made to Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, which has launched a fundraising campaign to support humanitarian efforts in Karabakh.

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