Mehmet Tosun
14 October 2020•Update: 15 October 2020
ANKARA
In a phone call on Wednesday, the Turkish president and his Russian counterpart discussed the ongoing Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, an official statement said.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Vladimir Putin that Turkey is in favor of a permanent solution to the Azerbaijan-Armenia dispute over Upper Karabakh within the framework of its status in the Minsk Group and the bilateral relations, Turkey’s Directorate of Communications said in a statement.
Armenia, which created a new crisis by attacking Azerbaijani territories, is trying to make its occupation lasting for nearly 30 years permanent, Erdogan said.
Also addressing the Syrian crisis, the Turkish president stressed that the momentum reached in the process of political solution on the crisis must be maintained. The duo also discussed the latest situation in Libya.
The clashes began on Sept. 27 when Armenian forces targeted civilian Azerbaijani settlements and military positions in the region, leading to casualties.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh.
The OSCE Minsk Group – co-chaired by France, Russia, and the US – was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail. A cease-fire, however, was agreed to in 1994.
Some 20% of Azerbaijan's territory has remained under illegal Armenian occupation for some three decades.
The two states agreed to a humanitarian cease-fire taking effect on Saturday for the exchange of prisoners and retrieval of bodies in Upper Karabakh.
The truce came after a trilateral meeting in Moscow on Friday between the foreign ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.
But Armenian forces Sunday launched a missile strike on Azerbaijan's second-largest city Ganja -- although the region is outside the front line zone -- killing 10 civilians and injuring 35.
Many world powers, including Russia, France, and the US, have urged a new cease-fire. Turkey, meanwhile, has supported Baku's right to self-defense and demanded the withdrawal of Armenia's occupying forces.
