Turkey: Armenia to pay price if it violates Karabakh ceasefire

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that Armenia will "pay the price" if it violates the latest peace deal and ceasefire agreement with Azerbaijan on the Upper Karabakh conflict. 

"They [Armenian forces] should either leave the territory voluntarily by abiding the agreement, or the heroic Azerbaijani army will take those lands back as it did so far. There is no other choice," Cavusoglu said in a news conference on Thursday in Baku, Azerbaijan's capital.

Azerbaijan is not "keen to shed blood" and was very patient for solving the conflict in peace, he said, adding, "After that, the choice is on Armenia [to shed blood or solve it in peace]."

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Speaking on the establishment of the peacemaking centre to oversee the ceasefire on the Upper Karabakh territory, Cavusoglu said Turkey's role will be exactly the same as Russia's on the joint monitoring.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) setting up a joint Turkish-Russian centre to monitor the peace deal – which has ended weeks of armed conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia – was signed on Wednesday morning, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"The conflict can be solved only by handing over all occupied lands to Azerbaijan," Cavusoglu said, adding that works on the status of Karabakh will continue in the upcoming period.

He underlined that the "only goal" of the peace deal was the return of the occupied lands to Azerbaijan.

"So far, the heroic Azerbaijani army has done what is required on the field, and now, through diplomacy, work is underway to return the occupied lands based on schedule."

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Cavusoglu also stressed that France – a co-chair along with Russia and the US of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict – has no "objective and balanced" stance on the Upper Karabakh issue.

"The Minsk trio must take a lesson from this process, especially France. Biased statements are being made even after the ceasefire [agreement]," he said.

'Great victory'

Relations between the ex-Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory recognised as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Fresh clashes had erupted on September 27, and the Armenian army continued its attacks on civilian and Azerbaijani forces, even violating humanitarian ceasefire agreements for 44 days.

Baku liberated several cities and nearly 300 of its settlements and villages from Armenian occupation during this time.

Before the second Karabakh war, about 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory had been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.

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On November 10, the two countries signed a Russia-brokered agreement to end the fighting and work towards a comprehensive resolution.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hailed the agreement as a victory for his country and a defeat of Armenia, saying Baku's military success enabled it to gain an upper hand to end the three-decade-long occupation of its territory.

Meanwhile, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he had signed an "unspeakably painful" deal that allowed Azerbaijan to claim control over regions it took back in the fighting.

The Turkish leadership also welcomed the truce, terming it a "great victory" for Azerbaijan.

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