World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has extended his condolences to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev two days after 12 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed during a clash on Armenian-Azerbaijani border, according to information received from Erdogan's office.

12 soldiers from the Azerbaijani army have been killed in a clash on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border on Friday.

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense said the clash erupted after Armenian reconnaissance troops were spotted while attempting to reach Azerbaijani positions in the towns of Aghdam and Terter.

Erdogan held a phone conversation with Aliyev on Sunday prior to his presidential election campaign rally in Istanbul and offered his condolences for the Azeri soldiers killed.

- EU calls on Azerbaijan and Armenia to respect ceasefire

Also on Sunday, the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed concerns over the recent border clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces.

"We are very concerned by the latest armed incidents which caused a number of casualties along the Line of Contact and the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border in recent days," she said.

She called on both sides to continue efforts towards a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Azerbaijan and Armenia, two former Soviet republics, fought a war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh between 1988 and 1994.

Efforts to resolve to the dispute have so far failed and there have been several border clashes since a ceasefire was signed.

The two countries have no diplomatic relations.