Erdogan Asks Parliament Nod to Send Troops to Nagorno-Karabakh
Erdogan Asks Parliament Nod to Send Troops to Nagorno-Karabakh
(Bloomberg) -- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has formally asked parliament to authorize deployment of peacekeeping troops to the contested Nagorno-Karabakh area following a cease-fire between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Turkish troops will serve at a joint center to be established with Russia that will monitor last week’s truce agreement, Erdogan said in his request. The parliament was asked to approve a one-year dispatch, with an option to extend.
The deployment would be “to the benefit of peace and wealth of the region’s peoples while also conforming with our national interests,” Erdogan said. He will decide the size of the contingent and when it will be sent.
Russian President Vladimir Putin brokered a deal to end the 44-day war over Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories after Armenians, facing defeat, agreed to withdraw their forces. The area is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but was taken by Armenia in a war in the early 1990s.
Turkey has previously sent troops to Libya and it keeps up a military presence in Syria, Iraq, Qatar, Somalia and Afghanistan. It also maintains a peacekeeping force in the Balkans.
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