Turkey: Good Party leader welcomes Karabakh deal

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - A Turkish opposition leader on Wednesday welcomed the cease-fire between the forces Azerbaijan and Armenia that ended six weeks of fighting in the Karabakh region.

"The Azerbaijani army is continuing to hold sway in territories [in Karabakh] once occupied by Armenia," Meral Aksener, the leader of Good Party, told her party's parliamentary group in the capital Ankara.

"The deal was signed following the liberation of [the strategic city] Shusha... Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan as we have been persistently saying this for 28 years."

Aksener said the hearts of both the nations of Turkey and Azerbaijan beat together.

Relations between the ex-Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

Fresh clashes erupted on Sept. 27, and the Armenian army continued its attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces, even violating humanitarian cease-fire agreements, for 44 days.

Baku liberated several cities and nearly 300 of its settlements and villages from Armenian occupation during this time.

On Nov. 10, the two countries signed a Russia-brokered agreement to end fighting, and work towards a comprehensive solution.

Turkey has welcomed the truce, which is a result of Baku's military successes and has given it an upper hand over Yerevan to resolve the three-decade-long dispute.