Turkish-Russian joint center completes mission in Azerbaijan

BAKU, Azerbaijan

The Turkish-Russian joint observation center established in Azerbaijan's Aghdam region has completed its mission after three years of service.

The center was established to monitor cease-fire and prevent violations after the Second Karabakh War, when Azerbaijan liberated most of the Karabakh region from decades of occupation by Armenia.

Karim Valiyev, Azerbaijan's chief of general staff, praised the center's contributions to peace at a ceremony on Friday attended by Azerbaijani, Russian, and Turkish officials.

Valiyev said Azerbaijan has fully established its sovereignty in Karabakh, and therefore the mission of the monitoring center had been completed.

Emphasizing the secure system established by Russian and Turkish soldiers for maintaining the truce, Russian deputy chief of general staff, Sergey Istrakov, commended cooperation among the three countries.

Turkish land forces chief Levent Ergun highlighted the center's role in ensuring the cease-fire until Azerbaijan's territorial integrity was restored.

Ergun said 331 meetings had been held at the center, adding that Turkish and Russian soldiers demonstrated the best example of working together.

The center, established near the Marzili village of Aghdam, opened on Jan. 30, 2021, with 60 Turkish and 60 Russian soldiers.

Relations between Baku and Yerevan have remained tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during the war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that also opened the door to normalization.

Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh after an "anti-terrorism operation" in September 2023, after which separatist forces in the region surrendered.​​​​​​​

*Writing by Muhammed Yasin Gungor