Azerbaijan liberated many lands from Armenia: Turkish president

ANKARA

Azerbaijan’s military has successfully liberated manly lands in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Oct. 2.

“Armenia encountered an unexpected result. The Azerbaijani army, which is now advancing successfully on the front, has rescued many places from occupation,” Erdoğan said at a ceremony in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.

Reiterating that Turkey will stand by Baku with all its capacity, Erdoğan said Azerbaijan’s struggle would continue until Nagorno-Karabakh is liberated.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu discussed the ongoing Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Oct. 1.

Çavuşoğlu told Lavrov that a ceasefire would be meaningless without a permanent solution, namely, Armenia’s complete withdrawal from all lands that are internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, a Turkish diplomatic source said.

According to the foreign minister, even if fighting stops today, clashes would simply resume later, the source quoted.

Lavrov and Çavuşoğlu confirmed in a phone call that they were ready for “close coordination” to stabilize the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia said Oct. 1.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said both ministers confirmed a “readiness for close coordination of the actions of Russia and Turkey to stabilize the situation with the aim of returning the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to the channel of peace talks.”

Meanwhile, Çavuşoğlu said Armenia must retreat from Nagorno-Karabakh in order to declare a ceasefire.

“We want this problem to be resolved peacefully and within the framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. Azerbaijan has the necessary power to take its lands. Armenia must withdraw from these occupied territories for a ceasefire,” Çavuşoğlu said at a press conference with his Italian counterpart, Luigi Di Maio, noting that if Azerbaijan demands support from Ankara, Turkey would not hesitate to help.

In efforts to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Çavuşoğlu accused the Minsk Group of taking sides. “It is against international law to equate the one who is occupied with the occupier.”

The OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States, was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but it has failed in its endeavors so far. Both countries, however, did agree to a ceasefire in 1994.