The New Anatolian, Turkey
Aug 22 2005

Turkey eyes Azerbaijani-Armenian top meetings for opening to Armenia

ANKARA – The Turkish government is awaiting the results of upcoming
high-level Azerbaijani-Armenian talks for its plans for a diplomatic
opening to Armenia.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Robert
Kocharian will meet next week, during a summit of the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS). As a prelude to the meeting Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Armenian Foreign Minister
Vartan Oskanian will hold talks in Moscow on Tuesday.

Diplomatic sources said that the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders are
expected to break the deadlock on Nagorno-Karabakh and progress on a
plan that foresees Armenian withdrawal from at least five of its
seven occupied regions, and recognition of Karabakh’s future status
through a referandum within 15 years.

Turkish officials say that they’re considering reopening the border
with Armenia, if and when Yerevan commits to such a pullout from
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Mammadyarov stated that if Yerevan and Baku come to agreement at the
foreign ministerial level on Tuesday then “the presidents will be
able to give instructions on beginning the work based on the received
information.”

Oskanian also said, “I can’t say anything concrete; the negotiations
will show everything. Whether we’ll be able to conduct negotiations
on this basis or not will be seen during the meetings,” reported the
Armenian media.

Hopes for a solution on Karabakh have risen especially after the
Minsk Group of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) had talks with those involved in July. “We’ve never been
closer to an agreement,” Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz
Azimov was quoted as saying after the talks.

Armenia’s occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region has been one of
the greatest obstacles for normalization of relations between Turkey
and Armenia. Though the Armenian government has recently signaled
they’re ready to drop the so-called “genocide” allegations from
official foreign policy, special relations between Turkey and
Azerbaijan have prevented the Turkish government from opening the
border before a solution is found on Nagorno-Karabakh.

Almost 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories have been Armenian
occupation. yerevan does not recognise Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s
national borders.