Turkey hails ‘important gain’ for Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh

Istanbul, Nov. 10, (dpa/GNA) – A deal to end fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh region is an “important gain” for Azerbaijan, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday.

Azerbaijan has achieved an “important gain on the field and on the table,” Cavusoglu wrote on Twitter.

“We will continue to be one nation, one spirit with our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters,” he added.

The agreement signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia is set to end the deadliest fighting since Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a war for control of the region in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Turkey has pledged full support to predominantly Muslim and ethnically Turkic Azerbaijan, accusing Armenia of occupying Nagorno-Karabakh, a region largely inhabited by Christian Armenians.

Although Nagorno-Karabakh is considered to be a part of Azerbaijan by the United Nations, it has been under the effective control of groups allied with Armenia for decades.

Russian peacekeepers will be deployed to the region as part of the agreement, reached by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, according to the news agency TASS.

Aliyev said Turkish peacekeeping troops would be deployed in addition to those sent by Russia. There was no immediate comment on this from Ankara.

GNA