UPDATE - 'Turkey stands with Baku amid clashes with Armenia'

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS FROM TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER

By Merve Aydogan, Nazli Yuzbasioglu, and Omer Tugrul Cam

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish foreign minister on Monday strongly condemned a deadly attack by Armenian armed forces on Azerbaijani troops.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, in a televised interview, called on Armenia to "pull its head together" and noted that Turkey stands with Azerbaijan "with all it has".

“What Armenia did is unacceptable,” Cavusoglu said.

“The Azerbaijani army did what was necessary and repelled these attacks.

“From this [incident], we see that by creating new conflict areas, Armenia wants to draw attention to other places, especially away from the lands it has occupied,” he added.

“Whatever solution Baku prefers for the occupied lands and Karabakh, we will stand by Azerbaijan,” he said.

Cavusoglu's remarks came shortly after three Azerbaijani soldiers were martyred and four others injured in a border clash with Armenian troops on Sunday.

Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan, has been illegally occupied since 1991 through Armenian military aggression.

- Hagia Sophia

Regarding Turkey's recent decision to reconvert Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia into a mosque after serving decades as a museum, the minister said the country strongly rejects comments that try to intervene with country's sovereignty rights on the decision.

On Friday, a Turkish court annulled a 1934 Cabinet decree that had turned the Hagia Sophia into a museum, paving the way for its use again as a mosque after 85 years.

The court ruled that the architectural gem was owned by a foundation established by Sultan Mehmet II, the conqueror of Istanbul, and presented to the community as a mosque -- a status that cannot be legally changed.

- Libya

Furthermore, Cavusoglu reiterated Turkey's aspirations of cease-fire in Libya and said: "We believe that a political solution is the only solution, but the necessary conditions must be met."

Libya has been torn by civil war since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Libya's new government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led agreement, but efforts for a long-term political settlement failed due to the military offensive by warlord Khalifa Haftar’s forces.

The UN recognizes the Libyan government headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj as the country's legitimate authority.