THE TURKISH ILLUSION
by R. Manafli
Ekho
Sept 10 2008
Azerbaijan
This is how they in Azerbaijan view the statement by Turkish Foreign
Minister Ali Babacan on the use of Armenian territory as an alternative
route to Georgia to transport Caspian energy resources
The stand of Baku is that any cooperation between Azerbaijan and
Armenia may be possible only after the settlement of the protracted
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict within the framework of Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity. Against this background the statement by Turkish
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan on the use of Armenian territory as an
alternative route to Georgia to transport Caspian energy resources
is nothing more than an illusion and populism, renowned national
experts a political analyst and the head of the Centre for Political
Innovations, Mubariz Ahmadoglu, and economist Oqtay Haqverdiyev,
told Ekho. [Passage omitted: background of Ali Babacan’s statement
and his remarks on cooperation with Armenia]
In the meantime, Azerbaijan is seriously concerned over such statements
by Turkish officials, which became frequent before, during and after
the visit of the Turkish leader to Yerevan. However, they are trying
not to take those statements seriously and are calling them "Turkish
illusions" and populist statements. In any case, Mubariz Ahmadoglu
told Ekho that in Turkey they have recently been cultivating too many
illusions on cooperation with Armenia.
By the way, the political analyst recalled that such an issue emerged
in the times of late Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev. "At first,
Armenia itself refused to join regional energy projects. Then, the
Armenian Diaspora in the USA started to send appeals to the US Congress
that Azerbaijan is isolating Armenia from regional projects. Even
the USA could not do it [have Armenia in regional projects] then,"
Ahmadoglu hinted.
At the same time, he stressed that Armenia longs for a chance to be
involved in regional energy projects of international significance
without the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict. "Azerbaijan’s
position is known to all, according to which any cooperation between
Azerbaijan and Armenia may be possible only after the settlement of
the protracted Nagornyy Karabakh conflict within the framework of
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity," Ahmadoglu said.
He added that Azerbaijan has enough power to counter such
initiatives. "We can stand for a long time, while in Turkey a lot of
such illusions on cooperation with Armenia have been created recently,"
the head of the Center for Political Innovations concluded.
In his turn, renowned economist Oqtay Haqverdiyev said that the
statement by Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan on the use of
Armenian territory as an alternative route to Georgia to transport
Caspian energy resources is populism. According to him, this is only
a political move, which Turkey uses to try to achieve some of its
targets and satisfy its state interests.
In reality, the economist says that it is unreal. "Even if we
hypothetically imagine the developments in the region in this way,
how much time will we need for this to happen? During this time the
situation in the region will change ten more times and it is not
known if this will be needed," Haqverdiyev said.
According to him, such statements do not need to be taken seriously
since they smell populism.
It should be noted that Ekho failed to contact the press secretary
of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Xazar Ibrahim, yesterday
[9 September]. However, Baku’s official position remains unchanged
cooperation with Armenia can never be in question until the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict is resolved within the framework of the territorial
integrity of our country.