Top Turkish, Russian diplomats discuss Upper Karabakh
ANKARA- Anadolu Agency
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu spoke via telephone with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Oct. 27 and discussed the situation in Syria, Libya and Upper Karabakh, according to diplomatic sources.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
Four U.N. Security Council resolutions and two by the UN GeneralAssembly, as well as international organizations, demand the "immediate complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces" from the occupied Azerbaijani territory.
About 20% of Azerbaijan's territory has been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.
A cease-fire, however, was agreed to in 1994.
Meanwhile, Turkish and Azerbaijani foreign ministers on Oct. 28 discussed the latest developments in the Upper Karabakh region, according to diplomatic sources.
Çavuşoğlu and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov spoke over the phone.
This came after a Washington-brokered truce last weekend proved short-lived after Azerbaijan said Yerevan breached the new humanitarian cease-fire.
The recent U.S.-brokered temporary humanitarian truce was announced Sunday and took effect 8 a.m. local time (0400GMT) Monday.
Baku said Monday that Armenian forces continued to attack Azerbaijani civilian settlements and military units.
Since the clashes erupted Sept. 27, Armenia has repeatedly attacked Azerbaijani civilians and forces, even violating three humanitarian cease-fires since Oct. 10. To date at least 65 Azerbaijani civilians have died and 297 have
been injured while 2,243 houses and 90 multi-apartment residential buildings were destroyed and 402 civil facilities were damaged, according to Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office
.
