STILL NECESSARY TO REVIEW RELATIONS BETWEEN AZERBAIJAN AND TURKEY: DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTE
TREND News Agency
Aug 29 2008
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Baku, 29 August / Trend News corr. I.Alizade / The Human
Rights Institute of the Azerbaijani National Academy of Sciences
believes that if Armenia recognizes independence of North Cyprus
Turkic Republic, relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey may strain.
"At present the Armenian Parliament is developing a document to
recognize independence of North Cyprus," Rovshan Mustafayev, the
director of the Institute, said during the discussions on situation
in South Caucasus on 29 August.
Cyprus was divided into two parts after the Turkish-Greek war. None of
countries, except Turkey, officially recognized independence of North
Cyprus, where Turkish people reside. The international organizations,
including the European Union (EU), recognized independence of Cyprus
Republic, where Greek people reside.
According to Mustafayev, seven of eight versions of draft law was
developed and it is still unknown which of them will be put for
discussions.
"Processes are developing in the direction of Armenia’s recognition
of North Cyprus’s independence. However, discussions on this matter
are hidden from the public, because public’s opinion does not interest
anybody," the head of the institute said.
Mustafayev believes that necessity has aroused to review relations
between Azerbaijan and Turkey. Thus, official Ankara’s some steps
evolved questions, which should be answered.
"The United States tries to pull out Armenia out of Russia’s
influence. Washington wants to carry out this task through
Turkey. Therefore, Ankara has become more active recently and began
to establish relations with Armenia. Presently, the main issue is
its level of influence on relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey,"
Mustafayev stressed.
According to Mustafayev, situation is strained in South
Caucasus. Scenario of 1945 may be repeated to reduce tensions:
"In that case, the United States bombed Japan. Currently, the United
States may bomb Iran to prevent the Russian aggression. It is not a
favorable version for Azerbaijan, because Azerbaijan is located in
an intermediate zone."