Putin Says Karabakh is Azerbaijan, Adding Ankara Defended Baku’s ‘Just Cause’ | Asbarez.com

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that the Karabakh is Azerbaijan and its status must remain be unchanged. He also said that Turkey defended Azerbaijan’s “just cause” when it backed Baku in military operations against Artsakh.

“From an international legal perspectives, all these territories are an integral part of the Republic of Azerbaijan,” said Putin adding that Armenia, itself, hasn’t recognized Karabakh’s independence and based on international legal standpoint Nagorno-Karabakh is also Azerbaijan.

“This is how our position was advanced in the Minsk Group, where Russia, the United States, and France are co-chairs. For many years, we have always assumed that the seven held areas around Nagorno-Karabakh should be returned to Azerbaijan,” Putin explained during his annual year-end press conference.

According to Putin, the Karabakh situation is “much more complicated than just simple normative assumption, including international legal ones.”

“The roots [of Karabakh] lie in an ethnic conflict, which began in Sumgait, and then spread to Nagorno-Karabakh. Here, each side has its own truth. The Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh once took up arms to protect their lives and dignity,” he added.

The current status of Karabakh should remain unchanged, but transportation link between Armenia and Karabakh is integral, hence the “addition” of the Lachin corridor, which was established for this purpose.

The Russian president said that discussion of Karabakh’s status should be deferred to the future, reiterating that the current status quo should remain unchanged.

In discussing Turkey’s involvement in Nagorno-Karabakh, Putin acknowledged Ankara’s support to Azerbaijan, a fact that Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev has denied or contested.

“Turkey’s position is based on, and it is has been publicly stated, that Turkey defended, as they believe, the just cause of Azerbaijan, namely the return of territories that were occupied during the fighting in the 1990s,” Putin said...