AZERI DIPLOMAT SAYS ARMENIAN-TURKISH TIES HINGE ON KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

Mediamax
April 16 2009
Armenia

Official stance of Azerbaijan is that "normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations is possible only if the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict is settled".

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Mahmud Mammadquliyev
said this in Yerevan today [16 April], answering the question of
Mediamax on the attitude of official Baku towards efforts of Armenia
and Turkey to normalize relations.

Mahmud Mammadquliyev is in Yerevan to participate in the session
of Foreign Ministers’ Council of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Organization (BSEC).

"We consider contacts between Armenia and Turkey to be internal affairs
of these countries. On the other hand, taking into account the factor
of the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict, we follow this dialogue with
interest and believe that relations between Armenia and Turkey cannot
be re-established without settlement of Karabakh conflict. We believe
that these issues should be related to each other. This is our stance,"
Mahmud Mammadquliyev stated, answering the question of Mediamax.

Let’s note that in November, 2008, answering the question in an
interview to Mediamax on Baku’s attitude towards efforts to establish
a political dialogue between Armenia and Turkey, Foreign Minister
of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov stated: "These are relations of two
sovereign states and we would like to hope that the fact will have a
positive influence on establishing peace and stability in the South
Caucasus."