ArmInfo.The issue of Turkey's participation in the peacekeeping process in Nagorno-Karabakh was finally clarified by today's talks between the Russian President and his Turkish counterpart Recep Erdogan. This is reported by <Gazeta.ru>
As the newspaper writes, following the conversation, Ankara issued a communique, which says: `` President Erdogan said that Turkey, together with Russia, will also carry out observation and supervision activities on a ceasefire through a joint center to be created in the area designated by Azerbaijan on the territory, liberated from the occupation of Armenia>.
Despite the prompt actions of Moscow to deploy peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh, this Turkish initiative itself has already caused heated discussions and disagreements, as it speaks of Turkey's desire to take part in the operation on an equal basis with Russia.
It is noted that, although the text of the trilateral agreement refers only to Russian peacekeepers, soon after its signing, Ilham Aliyev said that the mission would be carried out by joint efforts of Turkey and the Russian Federation. "Baku has always wanted the same role for Russia and Turkey in the Karabakh conflict and has achieved this," said the President of Azerbaijan.
These statements by Aliyev were denied by the press secretary of the Armenian Prime Minister Mane Gevorgyan, stressing that they "do not correspond to reality."
The Russian Foreign Ministry was also forced to intervene in the controversy. "Turkey will not have anything to do with the peacekeeping operation in the Karabakh region, its role will be limited to the framework of the ceasefire control center," the ministry said in a statement.
Nevertheless, Baku did not abandon its attempts to achieve an increase in Ankara's role in the settlement process. The website of the President of Azerbaijan published a video of Aliyev's conversation with Putin before the signing of the agreement, during which Aliyev said that "one of the points of today's statement is the joint peacekeeping mission of Russia and Turkey."
"Thus, we are creating a new perfect format of interaction in the region, not only within the framework of the conflict settlement, but also for future development," he said.
Vladimir Putin did not correct his colleague in any way, only noting that reaching an agreement "would benefit the interests of both the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples."
Thus, we are talking only about the work of Turkey within the framework of the ceasefire control center. There is no talk of the presence of Turkish peacekeepers on the territory of NKR, the newspaper concludes.