DM Monitoring
Ankara: Over the past few weeks, with the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh from 30 long years of Armenian occupation, the feud between Baku and Yerevan entered a new, more constructive stage, signaling a fresh start for the region. Turkish and Russian troops have been deployed to the region to keep peace and security in the region. The deployment has provided a new space for Turkey and Russia to test their cooperation following their joint experience in Syria. According to experts, both Ankara and Moscow are well aware of each others’ aims and security interests, enabling them to act together, even though challenges and disagreements continue to persist while trying to maintain a sensitive balance between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
With the Minsk Group failing to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey and Russia had to take the initiative, said Eşref Yalınkılıçlı, a Moscow-based Eurasia analyst. “The process and the talks on the nature of their presence in the Nagorno-Karabakh still continues,” he added.
Although Russia initially seemed hesitant to support Turkey’s involvement in the peace process, Azerbaijan’s advocacy for the partnership seemed to solve that problem, Yalınkılıçlı said.
Relations between the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a Russian-brokered cease-fire on Nov. 9 after six weeks of fighting over the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. Under the agreement, Baku will regain control of three districts that have been ruled by Yerevan’s forces since the 1990s.
Turkey and Russia signed an agreement for establishing a joint center to monitor the cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday morning, and the two countries will work together there, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Nov. 11. Still, since then there has been speculation about the nature of the deal.
