Turkey Ready To Open General Consulate In Nagorno-Karabakh - Erdogan

Turkey is ready to open a general consulate in the city of Shusha in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which could be a message to the whole world and Armenia, in particular, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th June, 2023) Turkey is ready to open a general consulate in the city of Shusha in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which could be a message to the whole world and Armenia, in particular, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

"We are ready to open our general consulate in Shusha at any time. (Turkish Foreign Minister) Mr. Hakan (Fidan) will work on the matter without any delay. If our general consulate is opened in Shusha, it will send a message to the whole world and especially to Armenia," Erdogan was quoted as saying by Turkish newspaper Star.

The Turkish consulate in Shusha could be the country's third in Azerbaijan, with the two others located in the second-largest city, Ganja, as well as in Nakhchivan.

The decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh flared up again in September 2020, marking the worst escalation since the 1990s. During the fighting, Azerbaijani forces seized control of Shusha and several other areas in the region. Hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered trilateral ceasefire declaration signed in November 2020. The two former Soviet countries agreed to the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the region. Since then, there have been occasional clashes along the border.