Putin describes Turkish presence in Nagorno-Karabakh as ‘provocative’
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On November 11, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced that Turkey and Russia had signed a memorandum for establishing a joint center to monitor the ceasefire process in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“There is a problem with the Nagorno-Karabakh region. No final settlement of the situation there has been reached,” Putin said in a press statement quoted by the Sputnik agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the presence of Turkish forces on the front lines in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan is a provocation, and Erdogan knows this well.
“We agreed to maintain the status quo today,” he added.
He pointed out that “what will happen next will be decided in the future, or decided by future leaders, future participants in the process.”
Putin believes that “if conditions are created for normal life and the resumption of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, this will create conditions for determining the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
He said that the Russian-Turkish center in Nagorno-Karabakh would use drones to monitor the situation, without mentioning the deployment of Turkish peacekeepers.
Russian message to Turkey
The statements carry many clear and veiled messages to Turkey, which insists on having a role in the forces that Russia will deploy in the region, according to observers.
“Russia is sending a clear message to Turkey that it will not allow it to participate in the peacekeeping forces,” Omar Husseinoglu, a political analyst specializing in international relations, told North Press.
He pointed out that “the Russian message is clear that it is the one who created the conditions for reaching an agreement that ended the war, and another strong message that the Turkish presence will be limited to the monitoring center that will be at the disposal of Russia.”
Husseinoglu believes that “Turkey will not head for any possible escalation of relations with Russia, and perhaps in the coming days we will witness an intensification of communication between Putin and Erdogan.”
“The Turkish side will be the initiator that seeks to achieve economic and commercial gains from the return of stability to Azerbaijan,” he added.
Russia aspires for Azerbaijan, especially Nagorno-Karabakh region, to be a military and political card in its hand, as is the case for Syria’s Idlib, according to Husseinoglu.
Send Turkish troops to Azerbaijan
On Monday, Turkish parliament approved a memorandum, to send Turkish forces to Azerbaijan to ensure the implementation of the withdrawal of Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Observers saw the Turkish move to send peacekeepers as within the framework of unilateral moves and the Turkish policy of intransigence.
The memorandum included an agreement to grant a one-year permit to send Turkish forces to Azerbaijan to carry out the mission of the joint center, according to official Turkish media sources. The memorandum, signed by Erdogan, stated that “the Turkish Armed Forces will perform their duties in the joint center that Turkey and Russia will establish together in the place determined by Azerbaijan.”
Abdulhamid Surkan, a researcher on Turkish affairs, told North Press that “The developments do not bode well for the two countries, and we may witness differences between the two parties.”
The military technical talks between Russia and Turkey, which took place on Friday, and Saturday, ended in failure.
Surkan said, “The Russian statements or the sending of Turkish forces to the Nagorno-Karabakh region is nothing but the beginning of a soft war between the two sides, and it may flare up if no agreement is reached.”
“There is no longer any role for Azerbaijan or even Armenia in any upcoming agreement, but the situation on the ground is also left to the main players, Russia and Turkey,” he added.
According to Surkan, for Russia, Syria’s Idlib is an arena for sending messages and settling its disputes with Turkey, and it is also a way to extort Turkey.
On November 10, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire agreement in Nagorno-Karabakh region. The declaration of the ceasefire stipulated that Armenian and Azerbaijani forces would stop at their current positions, and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed along the frontlines in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkey will monitor the ceasefire through a joint Turkish-Russian center, which will be opened in Azerbaijan for this purpose, according to the text of the agreement.