France wants international supervision to implement a ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict amid concern that Russia and Turkey could strike a deal to exclude Western powers from future peace talks, the presidency said on Thursday.
Paris and Washington co-chair the Minsk Group overseeing the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute with Moscow, but they were not involved in the deal signed by Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan earlier this month to end six weeks of fighting over the enclave.
Since the ceasefire, Russia has held talks with Turkey, a key ally of Azerbaijan and a harsh critic of the Minsk Group, and its parliament has approved the deployment of Turkish troops to the region.
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France called for international supervision in Karabakh to implement the ceasefire there, and expressed its concerns about the Turkish role in the region.
ReplyDeleteAfter the French President Emmanuel Macron called the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikole Pashinyan on Thursday, the presidential office said that Paris wants the Minsk Group to “play its role in determining the status of monitoring the ceasefire.”
They stated that Paris is pressing for “international supervision” on the ceasefire in order to ensure the return of the displaced and the departure of foreign fighters, especially from Syria, as well as the start of negotiations to determine the status of Karabakh.
DeleteIt is noteworthy to mention that relations between France and Turkey have witnessed increased tensions in the recent period due to a number of issues.
The conflict in Karabakh is among those contentious issues between Paris and Ankara, as France accused Turkey of fueling the crisis in the Caucasus through its support for Azerbaijan.