Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Tuesday that Turkey will take part in a peacekeeping process in the Nagorno-Karabakh region following a Russian-mediated deal with Armenia to stop the military hostilities.
Although the Azerbaijani president's claims have not been confirmed by the Turkish authorities yet, it is reported that the talks on the issue are ongoing.
Sputnik reported on Tuesday that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Aliyev discussed setting up a joint Russian-Turkish peacekeeping center to monitor the Nagorno-Karabakh cease-fire.
However, soon after a statement came from Kremlin, denying the reports of Turkish peacekeeping forces' deployment to the area.
Russia has already started sending its peacekeepers to the region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced earlier in the day that Azerbaijan and Armenia had signed the agreement.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics over Nagorno-Karabakh have remained tense since 1991, but fresh clashes broke out on Sept. 27.
Since then, Armenia has repeatedly attacked Azerbaijani civilians and forces, even violating three humanitarian cease-fire agreements. About 20% of Azerbaijan's territory has been under illegal Armenian occupation for nearly three decades.
Azerbaijan says that since Sept. 27, it has retaken much of the land in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave that it lost in a 1991-1994 war that killed an estimated 30,000 people and forced many more from their homes. Armenia has refused to acknowledge the extent of Azerbaijan's territorial gains.
Previously, Aliyev expressed multiple times that if there is to be peace, Azerbaijan wants to see Turkey at the negotiating table as well.
Turkey also stated previously that it is in talks with Russia over forming a mediation process between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
