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In 1919 and 1920 Azerbaijani Turkish troops massacred another 15,000 Armenians in Shushi, the main city of Nagorno-Karabakh.

After the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the South Caucasus as a result of defeat in WWI, the "Turkish factor" continued to exist in Azerbaijan, since thousands of Turkish officers and soldiers were recruited to the Azerbaijani army and actively participated in the military operations of Azerbaijani army against Armenians in Karabakh.

[стр. 225] Turkey and the Karabakh Conflict in 1990s: a Comparative Historical Analysis

The new phase of confrontation started in February 1988, when the local Council of People's Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) passed a resolution appealing to the Supreme Councils of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the USSR, asking for NKAO to be handed over to the jurisdiction of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.

In the early stage of the conflict, Turkey adopted a very cautious attitude towards the conflict, fearing a possible negative reaction from the Soviet government. A month before the collapse of the USSR, Turkey secured its role as protector of Azerbaijan by becoming the first country to officially recognize its independence.

After the breakup of the USSR in early 1990s, the pan-Turkist ambitions in Turkey were revived once again, striving to push Ankara to a new geopolitical role. Stressing Turkey's ethno-linguistic, cultural and historical proximity with Azerbaijan and the Turkic republics of Central Asia, Turkish leaders got actively involved in promoting the establishment of a Turkic confederation under the leadership of Turkey.

The Turkic factor was clearly one of the various factors affecting the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Several Turkic-speaking countries were involved in efforts both to resolve the conflict and to. escalate it; the latter was especially evident in the case of Turkey's pro-Azerbaijani position.

Taking into consideration the many facts and factors of Turkish interference in the zone of the Karabakh conflict, it should be stated that Turkey, openly supporting Azerbaijan in its war against Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, was party to the conflict rather than to its solution.

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