As World Welcomes Ceasefire, Ankara Again Fans Flames of War

Iran, France, Greece, Georgia join chorus of nations hailing the agreement

As leaders from around the world welcomed the humanitarian ceasefire agreement reached early Saturday morning (local time), official Ankara continued its aggressive and destabilizing attack on peace by advancing official Baku’s military rhetoric.

“In the armed conflict that began on September 27, Azerbaijan has shown Yerevan and the whole world that it can liberate the occupied territories,” Turkey’s foreign ministry said Saturday in a statement shortly after the ceasefire agreement was announced.

“Azerbaijan gave one last chance for Armenia to withdraw from its occupied lands,” added Ankara.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov during a telephone conversation that while the ceasefire agreement was an important step, it was not a way to resolve the Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani press reported Saturday.

Cavusoglu stressed that Turkey would only support a solution that is acceptable to Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has already violated the ceasefire agreement by attacking areas in southern Artsakh and continuing to shell civilian targets in Stepanakert, Martuni and

Iran’s President Hasan Rouhani praised his Russia for brokering the ceasefire in a phone call with that country’s president Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin announced that Putin provided a detailed account of the Russian mediation efforts to Rouhani, who stressed the importance of implementing and maintaining the agreement.

Rouhani also expressed concern over what his office called “the possible intervention of some third-party countries in this conflict,” saying that would expand and prolong the crisis, which is not in the region’s interest.

Emphasizing the need to protect the borders of Iran and the lives of fellow Iranians living in border areas, Rouhani said, “peace in the region is of great importance to us.”

Rouhani voiced concern about growing reports of Turkish-backed militant engaged in the fighting on Azerbaijan’s behalf, saying the presence of “terrorists” could pose dangers to both Iran and Russian, as well as the entire region.

France, Germany, Austria, Greece and Georgia were among the countries, whose leaders welcomed the ceasefire agreement, calling on the need to respect the provisions of the fragile deal.