ISTANBUL: Turkey and Azerbaijan both denied Tuesday an Armenian claim that a Turkish F-16 fighter jet had shot down an Armenian warplane.
Armenian defence ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said the Armenian SU-25 warplane was downed -- and its pilot killed -- during clashes over Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno Karabakh.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's top press aide Fahrettin Altun called the claim "absolutely untrue".
"Armenia should withdraw from the territories under its occupation instead of resorting to cheap propaganda tricks," Altun said.
Azerbaijan defence ministry spokesman Vagif Dyargahly also called the claim "yet another lie of Armenian propoganda".
Armenia had earlier this week also accused Turkey of sending mercenaries to back Azerbaijani forces in the ethnically Armenian region.
Turkey officially denies this.
But Altun wrote on Twitter earlier Tuesday that Turkey was "fully committed" to help Azerbaijan "take back its occupied lands".