MoD: Turkish sappers arrive in Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Vafa Ismayilova

The Defence Ministry has reported that sappers from the Turkish armed forces have arrived in Azerbaijan.

"The Turkish Armed Forces' specialists on the disposal of mines and improvised explosive devices have begun to provide assistance to the Azerbaijan army on liberated from occupation territories. The Turkish military specialists will carry out work on demining and clearing these areas from explosive devices, as well as organize training sessions for our engineering units," the ministry said.

The Defence Ministry thanked the Turkish National Defence Ministry for the provided supprt.

Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay said in late November that Turkish soldiers will soon begin their missions in Azerbaijan under a bill recently adopted in the Turkish parliament.

The Turkish military servicemen will operate within the Russian-Turkish joint monitoring centre in Nagorno-Karabakh for one year.

On November 10, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered agreement to end fighting in Karabakh and work towards a comprehensive solution.

The November peace agreement ended the 30-years-old conflict between Baku and Yerevan over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region that along with the seven adjacent regions came under the occupation of Armenian armed forces in the war in the 1990s. For nearly three decades, Armenia failed to implement the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of its troops, which was the main obstacle to the resolution of the conflict.

 The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France had been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Group’s efforts resulted in no progress as Armenia refused to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions.