Karabakh is Azerbaijani territory, Türkiye's Erdogan asserts

Karabakh is Azerbaijani territory, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, asserting that the imposition of any other status for the region would never be accepted.

"We have supported the negotiation process between Azerbaijan and Armenia from the beginning. However, we see that Armenia has not fully seized this historic opportunity," Erdogan said in his address at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

He expressed Türkiye's expectation that Armenia fulfil its commitments, especially those related to the opening of the Zangezur corridor, a key planned unimpeded road through Armenian territory connecting Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave.

"As everyone now accepts, Karabakh is Azerbaijani territory. The imposition of any other status will never be accepted," Erdogan underlined, adding that the primary goal should now be peaceful coexistence for all, including Armenians, on Azerbaijani territory.

Türkiye supports Azerbaijan's steps to preserve its territorial integrity, he said.

On Tuesday, Azerbaijan launched "counter-terrorism measures" in Karabakh to uphold provisions outlined in a November 2020 trilateral peace agreement it signed with Russia and Armenia following 44 days of clashes with Yerevan.

The Zangezur corridor connects Azerbaijan with its landlocked exclave of Nakhchivan autonomous region.

Geographically, Nakhchivan is cut off from mainland Azerbaijan by Armenian territory.

The corridor allows goods and people to travel back and forth between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan via Armenia’s Syunik province.