A REPRESENTATIVE OF AZERBAIJAN FOREIGN MINISTRY:
DURING ALL OF THE LAST CENTURY ARMENIA PURSUED ITS POLICY ON SEARCHING FOR AN EXTERNAL FOE
Author: A. Ismayilova

TREND, Azerbaijan
Nov 28 2006

"Turkey realizes better than any other country that Armenian policy
in the region has been built on an idea of searching for an external
enemy", Tahir Taghizadeh, Chief of The Press and Information Policy
Department of the Azerbaijan Foreign Office, told Trend commenting the
statement of Armenia Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan. Mr. Taghizadeh
said that at first this enemy was Turkey, then – Azerbaijan, and
finally GUAM".

The Armenian Foreign Minister lambasted Turkey state policy on denying
the Armenian Genocide, particularly, the fact that Turkey became a
more aggressive as the fact of the genocide was acknowledged by an
increasing number of countries. "Turks have never be so organized on
the state level to carry out the denying policy", said Mr. Oskanyan. He
admitted that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was a serious barrier for
establishing relations with Ankara, and said that "Ankara undisputed
solidarity with Azerbaijan is working against Turkey itself, since
the trust to this country in the Caucasus is under threat, as well
as its claims on the role of a bridge between the East and the West".

Mr. Taghizadeh also said that Turkey position in the regional
development issues, particularly, in the development of bilateral
relations with Armenia was dictated by Turkey principal position to
the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict based on norms and principles of
the international law, and Azerbaijan has always appreciated it.

Regarding that part of the statement where parallels between
Nagorno-Karabakh and Cyprus were exemplified, Mr. Taghizadeh said
that such parallel is absurd. The case of Nagorno-Karabakh is a direct
aggression of one state against another, and the internal element is
minimal, i.e. the role of the Karabakh Armenians.

Secondly, these two cases are differed from each other with the fact
that the Karabakh Armenians together with Armenian Forces had carried
out an efficient ethnic clearing out not only on the territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh, but also on the Azerbaijani bordering territories.

Moreover, this clearing out was not only an ethnic one, but also a
culture one", said Mr. Taghizadeh.

Having agreed that Cyprus and Armenia see obstacles on Turkey way
to EU, Mr. Oskanyan refuted an opinion that these two countries
were working against Turkey. "We actually have common issues, that
have been discussed by us, but we are not about to unite our efforts
against somebody", said the Armenian Foreign Minister.

For his part, Mr. Taghizadeh said that if the last words of the
Armenian Foreign Minister corresponded with the real policy of official
Yerevan, then this position may be only welcomed.