Turkey says the Armenian-Azeri ceasefire "cannot replace a lasting solution"

Turkey on Saturday hailed the Azerbaijan-Armenia humanitarian truce as an "important first step", but was quick to add that such measures "but cannot replace a lasting solution."

In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry also reaffirmed that "Turkey will continue to stand by brotherly Azerbaijan on the ground and at the table"

"The ceasefire which was declared on humanitarian grounds for the exchange of prisoners of war and bodies, is an important first step, but cannot replace a lasting solution," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Since the beginning, Turkey has always underlined that it would only support those solutions which were acceptable to Azerbaijan. With this understanding, Turkey will continue to stand by brotherly Azerbaijan on the ground and at the table," the statement continued.

The Turkish Foreign Minister claimed that "during the armed conflicts that started on 27 September 2020, Azerbaijan has shown Armenia and the whole world that it has the ability and the self confidence to reclaim its territories under occupation for nearly 30 years."

"In this process, calls for ceasefire were made from all over the world with humanitarian considerations. Consequently Azerbaijan gave Armenia a last opportunity to withdraw from the territories it has occupied," the statement added.

It is noted that the Turkish Foreign Minister and its Azerbaijani counterpart discussed by telephone a tripartite meeting between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on Saturday, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov discussed the tripartite meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia in Moscow on Friday, citing sources, who asked not to be named. Çavuşoğlu voiced Turkey's support for Azerbaijan's decisions at the tripartite meeting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin summoned the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia to Moscow on Friday for consultations mediated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and the parties decided to suspend the ceasefire on humanitarian grounds.

However, just minutes after the ceasefire was meant to begin, Azerbaijan broke it by attacking various positions, particularly against the town of Hadrut that it falsely claimed it had captured yesterday but was exposed to be a lie.