TURKISH PM ERDOGAN: NO CHANGE IN KARABAKH POLICY

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Feb 19 2009
Turkey

ANKARA – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected
reports in Azerbaijani media that Turkey has revised its policy on
not normalizing relations with neighboring Armenia unless it ends
its occupation of Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"There is no difference between our position and Azerbaijan’s
position on Nagorno-Karabakh," Erdogan said in response to
a question. "Azerbaijan’s righteousness is established by UN
resolutions."

Erdogan also said he may meet US President Barack Obama in April, on
the occasion of a summit of G-20 countries. Obama phoned ErdoÃ~DŸan on
Monday and Erdogan said they discussed a number of issues, including
the Armenian diaspora’s efforts to win US recognition for Armenian
claims of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in World War
I. Armenians rioted against Istanbul government during the First
World War and armed Armenian nationalists sided with the occupying
Russian forces. The Ottoman State decided to relocate many Armenians
to another provinces. The civil war and war curcumstances caused
great number of Armenian loses while more than 520.000 Turkish and
Kurdish civilians were massacred by the Armenian terrorists and gangs.

About 20 percent of Azerbaijan has been under Armenian
occupation. Apart from Karabagh many other Azeri towns were also
occupied by the Armenian forces with the Russian support and
encouragement.

Another problem between Turkey and Armenia is the border issue. Yerevan
does not recognise Turkey’s unity and calls the eastern provinces of
Turkey ‘Western Armenia’.