“Inconsistent” foreign policy damages Azeri-Turkish ties – opposition daily
Azadliq, Baku
13 Jan 05
Text of Xayal Sahinoglu report by Azerbaijani newspaper Azadliq on 13
January headlined “Relations between Baku and Ankara have become cool”
and subheaded “Fuad Mustafayev: ‘Relations between Turkey and
Azerbaijan have cooled because the foreign policy priorities have not
been set correctly'”
As a result of the foreign policy conducted by the incumbent regime,
Azerbaijan is about to lose Turkey as its strategic ally. To recap,
relations between the two sides began to deteriorate in the wake of
[Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev’s certain irresponsible statement
on the Cyprus problem. This trend was confirmed once again when
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not discuss the
Karabakh issue with Vladimir Putin on his visit to Russia.
It is a manifestation of the cooling of Azerbaijani-Turkish relations
that Erdogan did not discuss the Karabakh conflict when he visited
Russia, Fuad Mustafayev, deputy chairman of the People’s Front of
Azerbaijan Party [PFAP], said. The authorities are to blame for the
current state of affairs in bilateral relations, Mustafayev said. The
wrong foreign policy of the incumbent regime creates additional
problems for Azerbaijan, he said.
“Relations with Turkey, Azerbaijan’s strategic ally, have cooled
because the foreign policy priorities have not been set
correctly. Over the past few years, Azerbaijan’s foreign policy course
has been uncertain. The authorities suddenly declare Arab countries a
foreign policy priority, but then turn to Central Asia and
Russia. Such a foreign policy is bound to create problems for
Azerbaijan. It is the result of this policy that the Turkish prime
minister did not discuss with Russia, which is an interested party, a
very important issue for the region,” he said.
Mustafayev also linked the inconsistency of the authorities’ foreign
policy with the emergence of the issue of reopening the
Turkish-Armenian border on the agenda of the Moscow talks. “If the
authorities take populist steps trying to take advantage of the
problem instead of steadily defending our interests in settling the
Karabakh conflict, we have no right to hope that some country would
defend our interests. Although the Azerbaijani people may want Turkey
to demonstrate that it is Azerbaijan’s friend in the Karabakh
conflict, the authorities’ foreign policy does not allow this to
happen.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress