Canadian military gear used against Armenians: Report

OTTAWA: A Turkish-made military drone shot down by Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan was equipped with Canadian imaging and targeting systems, Canadian daily The Globe and Mail, which photographed the gear, said on Friday.

Canada suspended arms exports to Turkey in early October as it investigates the possible diversion of restricted Canadian military equipment to Azerbaijan.

At a news conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pointed to possible breaches of arms sales agreements.

"We need to make sure that the rules and the agreements that were in place on the contract for use (of Canadian arms) are being respected," he said.

"We heard that there were concerns that they were not, and indeed we continue to see examples and evidence that they possibly were not."

Turkey has blasted Ottawa over its suspension of arms shipments to a NATO ally.

Ankara is backing its longtime ally Azerbaijan in fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian province that broke away from Azerbaijan in a bitterly fought war in the 1990s.

Photos of parts of the downed drone were taken Thursday by a photographer from The Globe and Mail dispatched to an Armenian military complex.

Arms exports researcher Kelsey Gallagher was quoted by the Canadian daily as saying the photos clearly show an MX-15D imaging and targeting device made by Canadian company L3Harris Wescam.

"While we know this is a Wescam sensor just by looking at the turret itself, the inclusion of 'CMX-15D' on the serial code of the base plate makes it irrefutable this is Canadian-made hardware," he said.

"The same base plate is also branded with 'Baykar,' the manufacturer of the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone."

Trudeau renewed calls for de-escalation, respect for ceasefires and a negotiated solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.