ARMENIA TO BENEFIT MOST FROM STABILITY AND COOPERATION IN REGION – TURKISH PARLIAMENT’S SPEAKER

Trend News Agency
June 17 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 16 June /Trend News corr Y. Aliyev, S. Ilhamgizi/
Trend News’ exclusive interview with the Speaker of the Great National
Assembly (Parliament) of Turkey Koksal Toptan:

Question: Will the Turkish and Azerbaijani Parliaments be able to
establish the Parliamentary Assembly and other unions of Turkic
speaking countries?

Answer: Establishment of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic
speaking countries was initiated during the life of the late Heydar
Aliyev. Later Nursultan Nazarbayev made the same initiative. Turkey
has always supported the idea. A meeting of the Deputy Speakers of
Turkic speaking countries’ Parliaments took place in Antalya and
a unified text was developed. Then Astana hosted one more meeting
in March. It was decided to hold a meeting of Speakers of Turkic
speaking countries’ Parliaments at the end of this year. In written
form I invited Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to join the process, as
only Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Azerbaijan participated in
the first meeting.

Turkmenistan responded that they are watching the process and may
participate in the Parliamentary Assembly at least as observers in
future. Uzbekistan has not responded and we will continue our efforts.

The meeting of the Deputy Speakers decided to involve not only Turkic
speaking countries but also Turkic communities in the process as
observers. I am dealing with the issue through the Turkish Foreign
Ministry. I believe we will achieve an interesting thing. The situation
will definitely clear up by the end of this year.

Question: Armenia and pro-Armenians are still popularizing the
so-called ‘Armenian genocide’ of 1915. Do the Turkish and Azerbaijani
Parliaments take joint measures against deceitful Armenian propaganda?

Answer: Turkey and Azerbaijan stick to the unified position and carry
out the similar work against Armenia’s false claims. There are wrong
and negative opinions about us all over the world under the influence
of the Armenian Diaspora. We are doing our best, our scientists are
working, and we are disseminating scientific research in various
languages to inform the world of the truth. The Turkish Premier Rajab
Tayyib Erdogan called on to jointly investigate the invented ‘genocide’
from historical viewpoint and to study archives. Turkey stated that
it is ready to study archives. If there are any interested parties,
they also can open their archives and help to solve this problem. I
think that this call should be continued. However, it is obvious that
the claims about ‘genocide’ are probably the policy of the Armenian
Diaspora. If Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is solved and Armenia withdraws
from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, there will be stability in the
region and there will be no problems between Azerbaijan and Armenia
and Turkey and Armenia. If there is stability in our region, it will
be Armenia who will benefit from it.

Question: Greece has proposed Cyprus to be federation. What is Turkey’s
position in this regard?

Answer: We support the existence of two states in the island enjoying
full rights. The position of Turkey should be taken into consideration
while solving this problem. If Turkey’s position is considered, the
problem will be solved completely. Then the proposals on federation
can be discussed. Turkey supports the meeting of presidents.

Question: What kind of meetings and discussions are expected to be
held during your visit to Azerbaijan?