During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, after the Khojaly massacre in 1992, where at least 200 and possibly as high as 613 ethnic Azerbaijani civilians were massacred by Armenian Armed Forces and 366th CIS regiment, Türkeş instructed Aydoğan Aydın and other Turkish officers to support the Azerbaijani forces in their war effort and to "protect the people in the region from massacres." According to Novruz Hasanov, also known as Novruz Hasan Bozalganli, an Azerbaijani police officer who served in Tovuz, the Turkish officers even met with Abulfaz Elchibey, then President of Azerbaijan and got his approval, though a suitable education field could not be found and some of the Turkish officers left Azerbaijan.