Turkey is positioning itself as a stakeholder in the prospective settlement process in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, having tipped the balance in favor of its Azeri allies by providing them with military advisers, technical assistance and armed drones.
Eyeing a foothold in the Caucuses, Ankara aims to influence the array of solutions to the conflict, arguing that the current mediators — the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), co-chaired by Russia, France and the United States — have failed to achieve any progress since 1994. Much like a surrogate of the Azeri government, Ankara has conditioned a cease-fire on “Armenia’s withdrawal from the territories it occupies” and questioned the merits of the Minsk Group. Azeri President Ilham Aliyev asserted Oct. 6 that Turkey “should be part of the settlement process” in Nagorno-Karabakh, while praising the efficiency of Turkish drones.