Turkish press: FM Çavuşoğlu urges Armenia to refrain from provocations

Trucks of the Russian peacekeeping forces drive along a road near Lachin in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Nov. 13, 2020. (Reuters File Photo)

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu called on Armenia to refrain from provocations in the Karabakh region, as he underlined that Azerbaijan and Türkiye are sincere about stability and peace in the region.

“I am calling on Armenia once again to refrain from provocations,” Çavuşoğlu said Monday, as he urged Yerevan to take concrete action and honor the terms of agreements rather than just words.

Çavuşoğlu's statements came as Azerbaijan accused Armenia of failing to abide by the terms of the 2020 agreement by attacking positions near Karabakh, previously referred to as Nagorno-Karabakh.

Attending the 13th Ambassadors Conference in the Turkish capital Ankara, Çavuşoğlu said the normalization of relations with Armenia would benefit Yerevan and the region. He continued by saying that Türkiye and Azerbaijan have been simultaneously trying to normalize ties with Armenia and have been exchanging views during the process and constantly keeping in touch with each other.

The foreign minister also said Türkiye is against the removal of Russia from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), as he highlighted the necessity for dialogue in the region.

The first round of normalization talks was held in Moscow on Jan. 14, where both parties agreed to continue negotiations without any preconditions, according to a statement released after that meeting.

The Turkish and Armenian envoys met for the second time in Vienna on Feb. 24, and the third meeting was held on May 3, also in the Austrian capital.

Also, a historic bilateral meeting took place between the foreign ministers of Türkiye and Armenia on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on March 12.

The two countries have never established formal diplomatic relations and their shared border has been closed since the 1990s.

But in December, the two countries appointed special envoys to help normalize relations, a year after Armenia lost to Türkiye's ally Azerbaijan in a war for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Azerbaijan used the help of Turkish combat drones to recapture most of the contested territory that had been under Armenian forces' control since the 1990s.

Azerbaijan's victory that ended the occupation of its Karabakh region also helped pave the way for the normalization between Türkiye and Armenia.

Relations between the two former Soviet countries of Azerbaijan and Armenia have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military illegally occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

New clashes erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, and the 44-day conflict saw Azerbaijan liberate several cities and over 300 settlements and villages that were occupied by Armenia for almost three decades.

In February, Türkiye and Armenia resumed their first commercial flights in two years.

The land border between the two countries has remained closed since 1993 however, forcing trucks to transit through Georgia or Iran.

Ankara has been mending ties with several regional countries and has emphasized the need for enhanced cooperation, within this scope steps were also taken with Armenia, particularly following the latest Karabakh war between Baku and Yerevan.

Since then, both Russia and Azerbaijan have voiced support for closer ties between Türkiye and Armenia, which is seen within the sphere of regional normalization.