“I regret that such baseless accusations are voiced from the [OSCE Minsk Group] co-chair countries, France and Russia,” he told Italy’s Rai-1 broadcaster in an interview publicized on Tuesday.
Aliyev singled out French President Emmanuel Macron and Russia’s foreign intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin, for criticism.
Shortly after the outbreak of large-scale hostilities in and around Karabakh on September 27 Macron accused Turkey of recruiting jihadist fighters from Syria for the Azerbaijani army.
Russia also expressed serious concern about the deployment of “terrorists and mercenaries” from Syria and Libya in the Karabakh conflict zone. Naryshkin warned on October 6 that the region could become a “launch pad” for Islamist militants to enter Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign and defense ministers have raised the matter with their Turkish counterparts in phone calls reported in recent weeks.
Ankara strongly denies sending members of Turkish-backed groups to fight in Karabakh on Azerbaijan’s side. Baku also denies the presence of such mercenaries in the Azerbaijani army ranks.
Multiple reports by Western media have quoted members of Islamist rebel groups in areas of northern Syria under Turkish control as saying over the past month that they are deploying to Azerbaijan in coordination with the Turkish government.
Armenia has portrayed those reports as further proof of Turkey’s direct involvement in the ongoing war.