BAKU: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on Tuesday to go to the emblematic town of Shusha recaptured by ally Azerbaijan throughout the year’s war with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh area.
Turkey was a key backer of Azerbaijan through the battle, which erupted in September and finished at a Russian-brokered ceasefire following six months of fighting and some 6,000 deaths.
The truce arrangement saw Yerevan cede lands it had commanded for decades, such as Shusha, which Armenians and Azerbaijanis maintain as a part of the civilization.
The fortress city sits on shore around 15 km (nine miles) out of Karabakh’s biggest town Stepanakert and its collapse to Azerbaijani forces at November marked the turning point of this war.
Erdogan arrived in Baku at the morning Tuesday, Azerbaijan’s state-run news bureau AzerTag reported, though a senior Azerbaijani diplomat told AFP that the Turkish chief”will match later in the day together with President Ilham Aliyev at Shusha.” Throughout his visit, Erdogan is to provide a speech into the Azerbaijani parliament and also on Wednesday attend the Euro 2020 soccer game in Baku between Turkey and Wales.
Ankara that has for decades helped to trains and arm the Azerbaijani army was accused of dispatching mercenaries out of Syria to strengthen Baku’s military but refused the claim.
Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan’s army victory Armenia was a significant geopolitical coup for both Erdogan since Ankara attempts to cement its own sway at the ex-Soviet Caucasus area.