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News > Turkey

Turkish Parliament Approves Sending Troops to Nagorno-Karabakh

  • Several people celebrate from their car the end of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the streets of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

    Several people celebrate from their car the end of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the streets of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. | Photo: EFE

Published 18 November 2020
Opinion

President Erdogan says the military force will ‘benefit the peace and prosperity of the regional people.’

Turkey’s parliament approved troops' deployment to join Russian forces at an observation post in Nagorno-Karabakh after Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a Russian-brokered ceasefire to end fighting over the enclave. Some 2,000 Russian peacekeeping troops are now deployed in the region.

RELATED:

Azerbaijan & Armenia Sign Armistice Over Nagorno Karabakh

The mandate will allow Turkish troops to be stationed at the center for one year as part of an accord between Ankara and Moscow to monitor the ceasefire implementation, which locked in territorial gains by Azerbaijan.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to Parliament on Tuesday and said that the presence of Turkish troops and, “if needed, civilian personnel from our country, [will] be to the benefit of the peace and prosperity of the regional people and necessary for our national interests.”

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994.

The ceasefire signed on November 10 halted military action in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated by ethnic Armenians, after the worst fighting in the region since the 1990s.

Turkey has accused Armenia of occupying Azeri lands and pledged solidarity with its ethnic Turkic kin in Azerbaijan. Ankara has blamed the Minsk group – formed to mediate the conflict and led by Russia, France, and the United States – for freezing the issue for nearly 30 years. Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Tuesday Ankara, and Moscow’s cooperation would continue.

Russian officials have said Ankara’s involvement would be limited to the monitoring center's work on Azerbaijani soil, and Turkish peacekeepers would not go to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the center would operate remotely, using drones and other technical means to monitor possible violations.


 

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