The Turkish Parliament extended the deployment of Turkish troops to Azerbaijan.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its partner in the People's Alliance, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), voted in the mandate's favour, as did the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Good Party (IP).

Meanwhile, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) voted against the troop mandate.

The first mandate to send troops to Azerbaijan was accepted on Nov. 17, 2020.

The Turkish Grand National Assembly approved the deployment of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) for a period of one year to foreign countries to fulfil commitments stemming from the provisions of the Strategic Partnership and Mutual Assistance Agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan. They will work towards establishing a cease-fire, preventing violations, and ensuring peace and stability while carrying out duties at the joint Russian-Turkish monitoring centre.

Turkish peacekeepers arrived in Azerbaijan in January 2020 and have been stationed at the Turkish-Russian Joint Monitoring Centre in Aghdam district of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region. The centre launched on January 30, following a memorandum of understanding signed between Turkey and Russia on November 11, 2020.

The facility consists of 65 modular buildings, including separate and joint monitoring centres, a briefing room, a canteen, a medical centre, a laundry, as well as a water station, a parking lot, outdoor and indoor sports camps, warehouses, and others. The overall territory of the centre measures four hectares in the vicinity of Aghdam’s recently liberated Marzili village.

A total of 120 combined Russian and Turkish personnel, including the unmanned aerial vehicle teams, are deployed at the centre in equal numbers from both sides. The monitoring staff are led by Major General Abdullah Katirci from Turkey and Major General Viktor Fedorenko from Russia. Azerbaijani servicemen have been carrying out round-the-clock patrolling of the area.

The Turkish-Russian Joint Monitoring Centre has been engaged in monitoring the ceasefire and hostilities, organising joint activities to collect, summarise, and verify information on violations of existing agreements. In addition, it has been evaluating the obtained data to keep records of all cases of ceasefire violations, analysing and studying other complaints, questions, and problems related to non-compliance by the parties with the agreements, and taking measures to prevent the violation of the ceasefire.