Turkey, which threw its weight behind its ally Azerbaijan in the conflict, has been engaged in talks with Russia for a role in monitoring the ceasefire that ended six weeks of intense fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Russian and Turkish Defence Ministers signed a memorandum on Wednesday to create a joint monitoring center in Azerbaijan. Russian officials have said that Ankara’s involvement will be limited to the work of the monitoring center on Azerbaijani soil, and Turkish peacekeepers would not go to Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia, which negotiated the ceasefire, is sending about 2,000 peacekeeping troops under a five-year mandate. Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

Source: The Hindu November 16, 2020 11:54 UTC