TURKISH SPEAKER, AZERI MPS DISCUSS CAUCASIAN OIL, RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA

Anadolu Agency
April 15 2009
Turkey

Turkish parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan met with Azerbaijani
parliament’s women lawmakers, who were invited to Turkey after
controversies over the opening of the border between Turkey and
Armenia.

Recalling former Azeri President Heydar Aliyev’s idea of "one nation
with two states", Toptan said Turkey and Azerbaijan have very close
ties although presidents, governments and parliaments changed over
the years.

Toptan said the oil-rich Caucasus was home to a huge part of world’s
energy resources, adding that these resources whet appetite of some
circles.

"It is natural but we have to be smart and on the alert in order not
to be deceived," Toptan told Azeri lawmakers, who are holding talks
in Turkey at the invitation of a Turkish lawmaker from opposition
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Turkey and Armenia has been holding talks to normalize relations
in recent years. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said last week
that the border between Turkey and Armenia, which was closed after
Armenia invaded Azerbaijan’s Upper Karabakh in 1993, could be opened
in a few months.

However, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the border
could not be opened until Armenia-Azerbaijan dispute is resolved.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress