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Azerbaijan-Armenia Clashes Highlight Turkey-Russia Rift

Dorian Jones

   ISTANBUL - Military clashes between Armenia and neighboring Azerbaijan
   continued Thursday, further raising tensions between Turkey
   andRussia,whichback opposing sides in the conflict.

   The fighting erupted after a day of calm that had raised hopes of an
   end to the confrontation. At least 16 people have been killed since
   clashes started Sunday.

   What sparked the latest violence wasnotclear, but the two sides have
   blamed the other for the trouble. The two former Soviet Republics have
   been at odds for decades over Azerbaijan's breakaway, predominantly
   ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh. In the 1990s, Armenia and
   Azerbaijan went to war over the disputed territory.

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