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Nagorno-Karabakh

Russian FM says talks on Turkish military base in Azerbaijan “rumors”

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on June 18 dismissed as “rumors” talks about a potential Turkish military base in Azerbaijan.

Another Russian official – Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia was monitoring talks over possible Turkish military base in Azerbaijan.

“The deployment of military facilities of NATO countries near the borders of Russia is a reason for special attention and necessary steps to ensure security,” Peskov said.

The spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova also commented on the issue, saying “we strongly believe that bilateral ties in the region, including defence contacts, should not be aimed against any other states. We strongly support any steps focused on normalising the dialogue between Baku and Yerevan, and between Yerevan and Ankara. International contacts in the South Caucasus should be based on neighbourly principles and should take into account a balance of interests of all the countries in the region.”

She added that Kremlin “does not consider it correct to mix any topics concerning Nagorno-Karabakh proper with Azerbaijan’s (or Armenia’s) bilateral relations with third countries. This is how we view the most recent Azerbaijani-Turkish contacts at the highest level.”

Azerbaijan and Turkey on June 15 agreed to cement a new stage of military cooperation by signing the Declaration on Allied Relations in Shusha city liberated from the Armenian occupation in last year’s war. The declaration also envisages the strengthening of economic, political, energy and trade ties.

“But most important is the agreement on cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey in the defense industry sphere and mutual military assistance,” Aliyev said while addressing a presser after the signing of the agreement.

Erdoğan was cited as saying by Turkish NTV on Thursday that he did not rule out a Turkish military base in Azerbaijan.

“There may be development, expansion here later,” he said.

It should be noted that Russia sees the South Caucasus region as its sphere of influence and has a military base in Armenia’s Gyumri region.

It brokered the peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia following the war in autumn 2020. 2,000-strong Russian peacekeeping mission was stationed in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region in line with the peace deal.

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Azerbaijan

Military official: No deserters among Azerbaijani soldiers during war

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Baku has launched criminal proceedings over the actions of Armenian soldiers during the last year’s war, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prosecutor Khanlar Valiyev told local media on November 1.

These crimes are being investigated by the Prosecutor-General’s Office and by the State Security Office, the military official said.

A criminal case has also been launched into “incompetence” of some Azerbaijani soldiers during the war, Valiyev said, adding that however, there has been no case of desertion among the Azerbaijani soldiers and officers during the war.

It should be noted that Armenia launched criminal cases back in February against over 10,000 people on charges of desertion during the war, namely for abandoning their combat positions and fleeing the battlefield.

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Azerbaijan

492,000 land mines diffused in Karabakh in October

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Azerbaijan continues clearing the landmines in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh a year after regaining control over the region in the war with Armenia.

Some 338 anti-personnel mines, 154 anti-tank mines and 1,389 unexploded ordnance were found in the liberated lands in October 2021, the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) reported in its monthly report. The area of cleared area in October was 408 ha, the agency said.

Azerbaijan defused over 10,200 anti-personnel mines, 4,329 anti-tank mines and 12,436 unexploded ordnance in its formerly occupied territories since winning the war and signing the peace agreement with Armenia in November 2020.

It is believed that it will take five to six years to clear unexploded ordinance and 10 to 13 years to clear the mines.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly called on Armenia to provide maps for over 100,000 land mines planted in its formerly-occupied territories. Over 150 civilians and servicemen have been killed or injured by landmines after Azerbaijan regained control over the region since November 2020.

President Ilham Aliyev said in August that “Armenia won’t give us maps of minefields, and the accuracy of the maps provided at the latest stage is only 25 percent.”

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Azerbaijan

Aliyev, Erdogan inaugurate new airport in Karabakh

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President Ilham Aliyev and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have inaugurated Fuzuli International Airport, which is the first airport built in Azerbaijan’s newly-liberated Karabakh region.

Erdogan arrived in Azerbaijan today to inaugurate the airport becoming the first head of state to land at the Fuzuli International Airport.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the airport’s construction took place back on 14 January during Aliyev’s visit to Fuzuli city that was liberated on October 17 after three decades of Armenian occupation.

The construction of international airports in Lachin and Zangilan regions is also underway in Azerbaijan’s newly-won territories.

The first test flight to Fuzuli was performed on September 5. The airport is approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Shusha and 300 kilometers from the capital Baku and was granted the “international airport” status upon Prime Minister Ali Asadov’s decree on October 16.

The runway of the airport is 3,000 meters and the width is 60 meters. It is equipped with instrumental landing, navigation and control systems, to ensure flight safety. Turkish companies also participated in the construction of the airport.

It should be noted that this was the Turkish president’s third visit to Azerbaijan since Azerbaijan’s victory in last year’s war with Armenia. Earlier, Erdogan attended the military parade held in Baku in December to celebrate Azerbaijan’s victory and also visited historic Shusha city in Nagorno-Karabakh in June where the two presidents signed the Shusha Declaration that cemented the defence cooperation and also focused on setting up new transportation routes.

Fuzuli along with 300 city centers, settlements and regions was liberated during last year’s six-week war that saw Azerbaijan regain control over most of its territories in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region that had been under the Armenian occupation since the war in the early 1990s.

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