AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION URGES TURKEY TO BE SENSITIVE WITH REGARD TO OPENING BORDERS WITH ARMENIA

Trend
March 17 2009
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani opposition urged Turkey to be sensible with regard to
opening borders with Armenia.

"Though Turkey’s current government deals a blow to our certain
interests by its decisions, we must not lose this country. We must
maintain high level relations," chairman of opposition Azerbaijan
Democratic Party Sardar Jalaloglu said.

Armenian-Turkish ties have been severed since 1993 because of
Armenia’s false "genocide" claims and occupation of 20% of Azerbaijani
lands. Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan on September 6,
2008 at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisyan to
watch Armenia-Turkey football match within the European Cup. Efforts
have been made since then to normalize ties between the two countries.

Jalaloglu said Turkey’s Prime Minister announced some time ago that
changes in their policy regarding Armenia have been coordinated with
the Azerbaijani government.

"Secondly, Turkey has its own top-priority interests and it must
ensure them. Third, I think policy of Armenia’s blockade is not
effective any more," the ADP chairman said.

He said Azerbaijan’s blockade on Armenia did not enable the country
to participate in trans-regional projects. "This process is already
over. There are no projects any more not to enable Armenia to
participate in it," Jalaloglu said.

Jalaloglu said about 3 million Armenians in Turkey keep contact
with Armenia via different means. "Turkey’s decision to open borders
would mean to formalize the mechanism which operated unofficially so
far. Unfortunately, Turkey must have taken into consideration that the
Karabakh problem remains unresolved while taking this step. If Turkish
authorities say they have taken this step taking into consideration
state’s interests, we can not say something," he said.

The right-wing ADP was founded by Sardar Jalaloglu in1991. The party
had been occupying a radical position against the authorities by
January 2007 when it took a new political course to dialogue with
the authorities. Rasul Guliyev, the former chairman of the party,
and his supporters separated from the party protesting against its
new political course and founded their new Open Society Party.

"Azerbaijan must provide a serious reaction to Turkey’s opening
borders with Armenia," opposition Umid party chairman and member of
parliament Igbal Agazade told Trend News.

He said Turkey and Azerbaijan took a joint action for a long time to
prevent recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide. "They have
shared the same position in implementation of some transnational
projects. They could make concessions towards each-other. Azerbaijan
undertook more responsibility in last years," he said.

Agazade said the chief goal of Azerbaijan’s participation in these
processes was to prevent opening of Turkey-Armenia borders. "If
Turkey changes priorities, it should give an explanation to
Azerbaijan. Because changing years-old policy can cause problems,"
he added.

He said opening of Turkey-Armenia borders can mark beginning of
new policy in the South Caucasus. "Both Azerbaijani government and
opposition must hold discussions with Turkish authorities on this
situation," Agazade said.

The oppositional Umid Party was founded in 1993. The Civil Solidarity
Party (CSP) joined it in 2002. The former chairman of CSP Igbal
Agazade was elected chairman of Umid Party. Agazade is also MP of
the Azerbaijani parliament.