Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday (November 16th) requested Parliament's authorization to send soldiers to Azerbaijan to participate in a Russian-Turkish ceasefire monitoring mission in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Read also: In Nagorno-Karabakh, the heartbreaking departure of the last Armenians from Kelbadjar
In a motion sent to the National Assembly which bears his signature, Erdogan explains wanting to set up a "
coordination center
" with Russia to monitor compliance with the truce.
The soldiers sent by Turkey, a country which supports Azerbaijan, will be deployed to "
take part in the activities of the coordination center that will be established with Russia
" and "to
ensure respect for the ceasefire
", according to the text.
This deployment authorization, which should only be a formality, will be valid for a period of one year and the number of deployed soldiers set by Erdogan.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russian-sponsored deal last week that ended several weeks of deadly clashes in Nagorny Karabakh, the breakaway region of Armenian-majority Azerbaijan.
To monitor compliance with this agreement, which enshrines Baku's territorial gains and provides for the evacuation by the Armenians of certain areas, Moscow has begun in recent days to deploy a “
peacekeeping
” force.
If Turkey is not mentioned anywhere in this agreement, Ankara quickly asserted after its signature that Turkish soldiers would take part in the observation of the ceasefire from the coordination center.
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Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenians pack their bags after the ceasefire
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