Istanbul
Ankara and Moscow have signed an agreement to jointly monitor ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh region, reported TRT on Wednesday.
Addressing deputies from his governing Justice and Development (AK) Party in the Parliament, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the two countries will work together under the newly established centre.
“Armenia’s 28-year occupation in Nagorno-Karabakh is ending,” said Erdogan, adding that his country is ready to do whatever is needed for the region’s peace, security and confidence.
“Karabakh’s quick peace process can be replicated in Syria as well,” he reflected.
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The development comes a day after Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia signed a deal to end the military conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region after more than a month of bloodshed.
The Nagorno-Karabakh fighting raised fears of a wider regional war, with Turkey supporting its ally Azerbaijan, while Russia has a defence pact with Armenia and a military base there.
Azerbaijan says it has since September 27 retaken much of the land in and around Nagorno-Karabakh that it lost in a 1991-94 war which killed an estimated 30,000 people and forced many more from their homes. Armenia has denied the extent of Azerbaijan’s territorial gains.
Several thousand people are feared killed in the flare-up of the conflict.
Three ceasefires have failed in the past six weeks and Azerbaijan’s superior weaponry and battlefield gains have reduced its incentive to seek a lasting peace deal.
Azerbaijan said on Sunday it had captured Shusha, known by Armenians as Shushi, which sits on a mountaintop overlooking Stepanakert, the city regarded as the enclave’s capital by its ethnic Armenian administration.
President Aliyev announced a list of 48 settlements he declared liberated on Monday in several parts of the enclave.
An Azeri defence ministry video posted online showed Azerbaijan’s national flag flying over deserted streets in what it said was Shusha.—AFP
