Lavrov says Turkey not a 'strategic ally,' won't be included in Karabakh talks

Russia's foreign minister has warned against "materializing the principle that war is the continuation of politics."

İstanbul

Photo: AA/File

Russia does not share Turkey's view of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and will not be included in the trilateral talks between Moscow, Baku and Yerevan, according to Sergey Lavrov, the country's minister of foreign affairs.

"We disagree with the position Turkey has voiced, which was expressed several times by President Aliyev. There is no secret here, we cannot share the statement that there is ... a military solution to the conflict," Lavrov told Russia's state-run Sputnik News.

Since the start of the conflict in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region on September 27, Turkey has stated that it supports Azerbaijan "both militarily and diplomatically."

"We have never qualified Turkey as our strategic ally. Turkey is a very close partner; in many areas this partnership is strategic," he remarked, adding that "... Politics must avoid materializing the principle that war is the continuation of politics," Lavrov warned.

"We have never qualified Turkey as our strategic ally. Turkey is a very close partner; in many areas this partnership is strategic," he remarked.

On the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan with Russia's mediation, Lavrov said that Turkey wouldn't be included in the talks. However, he added, he informed his counterpart in Ankara, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, about the talks.

"Responding to the question about contacts with our Turkish colleagues, I got in touch with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and informed him that we count on support for our efforts. On Sunday, we had another telephone conversation, during which support for the Moscow document was confirmed," he said, according to Russia's state-run TASS agency.

When asked about the possibility of considering some new formats of settlement talks, Lavrov recalled that the joint statement made by the Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers "confirmed that the formats of the negotiation process of the OSCE Minsk Group remained unchanged," TASS reported.

The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute

Click on the map to enlarge (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region of approximately 4,400 square kilometers in the Caucasus between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Relations between the two former Soviet countries have been tense since 1989 over Nagorno-Karabakh, or Upper Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan populated mostly by Armenians.

In 1989, the parliament of Azerbaijan removed Nagorno-Karabakh's autonomous status, which had been in place since 1923.

During the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Armenia began military operations into Nagorno-Karabakh in 1991.

In the same year, the separatist administration in Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence. The Azeri people of the region had boycotted the independence referendum.

The independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh, or Artsakh republic, is not recognized by any United Nations member state, including Armenia.

Four UN Security Council and two UN General Assembly resolutions as well as many international organizations demand the withdrawal of the occupying forces.

The OSCE Minsk Group – co-chaired by France, Russia and the US – was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. A cease-fire was agreed upon in 1994.

France, Russia and NATO, among others, have urged an immediate halt to clashes in the occupied region.

During the conflict between 1988-1994, about one million people were displaced and 30,000 were killed.

(VK)

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BIA News Desk