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Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict

Russian-Turkish monitoring center to be set up in Agdam district - Aliyev

The Turkish-Russian monitoring center will monitor the ceasefire regime

BAKU, December 12. /TASS/. A Russian-Turkish monitoring center for ceasefire control in Nagorno-Karabakh will be set up in the Agdam district of Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev said at a meeting with the French and US co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group on Saturday.

The meeting was also attended by Russia’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mikhail Bocharnikov and Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

"We are now already in the phase of creation of the monitoring center in Agdam district of Azerbaijan," Aliyev said cited by the AZERTAC news agency.

"The Turkish-Russian monitoring center will monitor the ceasefire regime. And this, I think, is also a very good sign of regional cooperation, also, a good sign of cooperation between Turkey and Russia. And this already is a reality," he added.

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. Under the statement, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides are to maintain the positions that they have held and then, Armenian forces are to turn over control of certain districts to Azerbaijan. In addition, Russian peacekeepers are to be deployed along the contact line and to the Lachin corridor, which links Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

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