TURKISH PREMIER SAYS NO FINAL ACCORD WITH ARMENIA BEFORE KARABAKH ACCORD
Anadolu Agency
April 10 2009
Turkey
Hatay, 10 April: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he
"will not sign a final agreement between Turkey and Armenia as long as
an accord is not reached between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagornyy
Karabakh. "Prime Minister Erdogan answered questions from reporters
after his visit to Antakya Mayor Lutfu Savas in the mayor’s office.
Erdogan was asked: "The president of Armenia said in a statement
to a Russian television channel that he was hopeful that the
Turkish-Armenian border will open before the soccer match between
the national teams of Turkey and Armenia in Istanbul on 7 October. Do
you agree with that statement? This situation has caused uneasiness
in Azerbaijan. Is there a new situation aimed at relieving the
uneasiness there?"
Erdogan replied: "I always hear what you are saying in news broadcast
by the media. You do not listen to what the prime minister of the
Turkish Republic is saying but pay attention to reports coming from
here and there. We will not sign a final agreement between Turkey
and Armenia as long as an accord is not reached between Azerbaijan
and Armenia over Nagornyy Karabakh. We will complete the groundwork
or preliminary work. However, [a final agreement] will definitely
depend on the resolution of the Nagornyy Karabakh problem between
Azerbaijan and Armenia.
"The United States must carry out the responsibilities it has assumed
on this issue as a member of the Minsk troika. France and the Russian
Federation are also part of that group. They must first solve this
problem. There will be no problems for us once they resolve it. We
can overcome this problem. I have said this many times. The visit the
Armenian president will pay to Turkey to attend a national soccer
game is not a development that resolves the problem. After all,
our president did not go [to Armenia] for that purpose."
When persistent questions were asked about this issue, the prime
minister said: "What did I tell you? Nothing binds me beyond what
I said. Nor does it bind our president. Coming here to attend a
national soccer game is not related in the slightest way to the
opening of borders. Did our president’s attendance of the soccer
game in Armenia mean the opening of borders? How can that be? As the
prime minister of a government that represents the Turkish Republic,
I am saying that there is no such thing. What else can I tell you?"
Erdogan said that he came to Hatay to take some rest after working at
a fast pace recently and to pay a visit of gratitude. He added that he
"had the opportunity to evaluate the situation with the deputies and
the mayor."
‘Let Me Have My Vacation’
One reporter asked: "We understand that you will go somewhere else
from here. Is your destination known? As you know, we do not want to
leave you–we have to follow you." Erdogan replied: "Yes, you do not
leave me, and that is not right. I am also a human. You can go and
have your vacation in comfort. Let me have my vacation also. You know
everything better that we do down to the square footage of the rooms."
When another reporter asked the prime minister whether he is using
the spa waters, Erdogan said: "Yes, I use them."
Erdogan refused to reply to a question on [former Prime Minister]
Necmettin Erbakan’s visit to Iran tomorrow and its impact on political
balances at home. He said that he will answer questions related to
his party and government.
In response to a comment that the proposed amendments to the
Constitution and the lowering of the electoral threshold to below 10
per cent would clear the way for coalition governments, Erdogan said:
"Friends, above all we want a broad-based consensus. However,
irrespective of the question of whether we can get such a consensus,
as I have noted in the past, we conducted earlier work on individual
candidacies, the law on elections, and the law on political parties. We
will send that work to the Assembly. We will find out the interest
it generates in Assembly commissions after we send it there."