BAKU, January 30. /TASS/. Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov and Turkish Deputy Defense Minister Yunus Emre Karaosmanoglu have discussed military-technical cooperation between both states and the activity of the joint Russian-Turkish monitoring center of the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry’s press service informed.
"Zakir Hasanov stressed that military cooperation between both states based on friendly and brotherly relations is developing and becoming stronger successfully. <…> The sides have pointed out the need to increase efforts in this direction, namely in the sphere of military-technical cooperation and holding joint drills," the statement reads.
The Turkish deputy defense minister came to Azerbaijan to take part in launching the Russian-Turkish joint monitoring center, which began its work on January 30, 2021.
On November 11, 2020, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Turkish colleague Hulusi Akar signed a memorandum on establishing a joint Russian-Turkish monitoring center of the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict over 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, 2020, 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. The Russian leader said the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region. Besides, Baku and Yerevan must exchange prisoners and the bodies of those killed.