Azerbaijani forces advance in Nagorno-Karabakh amid Armenian accusations of occupying region
ISTANBUL/QAMISHLI (North Press) – Azerbaijan’s presidentIlham Aliyev said on Thursday that his army is advancing in Nagorno-Karabakh, while Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian Prime Minister accused Azerbaijan of occupying the whole region.
Pashinyan said that Turkey and Azerbaijan do not want to stop their offensives.
For its part, Moscow called for an end to the fighting in the region and the start of diplomatic settlement of the conflict.
Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, said that peacekeeping forces should be deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh to monitor the ceasefire, in addition to deploying Russian military observers on the frontlines.
Lavrov stressed that his country does not agree with Turkey’s position that there is likely to be a military solution to the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
“We informed Baku and Yerevan about the necessity to hold meetings between the military leaders to set up mechanisms to verify the ceasefire in the region,” Lavrov added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed, in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday evening, a number of important issues, on top of which were the developments in the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“Turkey supports finding a permanent solution to the Azerbaijani issue, whether within the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe or within the framework of the bilateral relations with Russia,” Erdogan said.
“Armenia has been seeking to permanently occupy Azerbaijani territories for 30 years, and it is causing a new crisis by attacking those territories,” he added.
In turn, Putin expressed his “serious concern about the participation of militants from the Middle East in the fighting” in Nagorno-Karabakh, according to a statement issued by the Russian presidency.
“The reference was made to the urgent need to mobilize efforts for an urgent end to the bloodshed and a move towards a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis,” the statement added.
In an exclusive interview with North Press, Murat Mustafa, a researcher in Turkish affairs who lives in Istanbul, said, “Turkey completely knows the size of the Russian intervention in the Armenian-Azerbaijani issue.”
“For this reason, the arena was left empty for Russia in order to complete the ceasefire agreement. It also knows the size of the military and logistical support provided by Russia to Armenia,” he added.
Turkey knows that its involvement in this issue will not produce any results, but will only exacerbate the conflict, given the old historical problems with Armenia, according to Mustafa.
In light of the acceleration of the events in Azerbaijan, Turkish media believes that “Ankara’s exclusion from the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not realistic.”
“Moscow may deploy its forces in the region under the pretext of chaos, as part of its efforts for the independence Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“Turkey seeks to be involved in resolving the conflict, especially after the failure of the ceasefire agreement that was sponsored by Russia,” said Mehmet Osman Awnioglu, an academic living in Istanbul.
Consequently, Turkey does not want Russia to deploy its forces in the region, according to Awnioglu.
Awnioglu believes that matters between Armenia and Azerbaijan will remain as they are until “the Turks and the Russians reach an agreement.”
On the ground, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday morning that Azerbaijan bombed Armenian military equipment on the northern border with the Nagorno-Karabakh region and an Armenian military target near the Kavachar region.
The ministry added that it reserves the right to target any military facility inside the Azerbaijani territories in response to the bombing of the missile platforms.
For the third consecutive week, clashes between the Armenian and Azerbaijani forces are still continuing.
The continuing battles come despite their agreement following a Russian mediation of the ceasefire which came into effect on October 10, and was quickly breached.
On September 27, fierce battles broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, at a time Turkey says that Armenia is “occupying” the Azerbaijani territories and must leave them. Turkey continues supporting Azerbaijan in its struggle, according to senior Turkish officials.