Russia, Turkey open monitoring centre for Nagorno-Karabakh

BAKU: Russia and Turkey opened a joint centre on Saturday to observe a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh that was agreed following a flare-up in the conflict in the region last year, Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said on Saturday.

The centre, which both countries agreed to set up in November, was officially opened in the Agdam region of Azerbaijan. It will be staffed by up to 60 servicemen each from Turkey and from Russia, the defence ministry said in a statement.

After six weeks of fighting, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered ceasefire for the enclave, which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but mainly populated by ethnic Armenians.