PRIME MINISTER ERDOGAN PUTS BAKU’S ARMENIA CONCERNS TO REST

Turkish Press
May 14 2009

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday appeared to have put
strained relations with Azerbaijan back on track after giving firm
and clear assurances to the regional ally that Turkey would not open
its closed border with Armenia unless the Armenian occupation of
Azerbaijani territory ended.

"There is a relation of cause and effect here. The occupation of
Nagorno-Karabakh is a cause, and the closure of the border is an
effect. Without the occupation ending, the gates will not be opened,"
Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev during a visit to Baku.

Aliyev, who refused to attend an Alliance of Civilizations meeting
in Istanbul in April in protest of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation
efforts, said he was grateful for Erdogan`s statement. "There could be
no clearer answer than this. There is no doubt anymore," Aliyev said.

Turkish and Armenian diplomats have been holding secret talks
for the last year and a half to normalize their relations, and
last month the two countries announced a "roadmap" to restore
ties, which would include reopening the border. Turkey closed its
border and severed diplomatic ties with Armenia in 1993 in a show
of solidarity with Azerbaijan after Armenian forces invaded the
Nagorno-Karabakh region and surrounding territory during a war
between the two countries. Azerbaijan, an ethnic and regional ally
and a key supplier of natural gas for Turkey, has expressed concern
over the Turkish-Armenian talks, fearing it would lose major leverage
if Turkey opened its border with Armenian without progress in the
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Azerbaijani leaders also signaled that
they would increase the price of natural gas for Turkey as political
tension increased.

Aliyev said yesterday that concerns grew in his country when there
was no response from Turkey to reports in the Armenian media that the
border would be reopened. In an address to the Azerbaijani parliament
later in the day, Erdogan appealed to the Azerbaijani people to trust
his words rather than media speculation.

"Some reports said Turkey gave up on Nagorno-Karabakh in order
to normalize relations with Armenia. This is an outright lie. I
dismiss it once again here," Erdogan told Azerbaijani lawmakers. His
speech, adorned with citations from Turkish and Azerbaijani poets,
was frequently applauded. Erdogan said Turkey and Azerbaijan were
"one nation with two states" and that their ties were based on
unshakable premises.

Erdogan`s government also faced criticism from the nationalist
opposition at home over the Armenia drive. Opposition parties have
accused the government of sacrificing ties with Azerbaijan without
any solid concession from Yerevan. Turkish-Armenian ties are also
problematic because of Armenian claims that a genocide took place
at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, a charge categorically rejected
by Turkey.

"Our stance on Nagorno-Karabakh is clear, and there has never
been any deviation from this stance," Erdogan told the Azerbaijani
parliament. "We want the problem to be resolved on the basis of the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan."

"We have never taken any steps that could harm the national interests
of Azerbaijan and will never take such steps," Erdogan said. "There
will be no normalization unless the occupation of Azerbaijani territory
ends." The prime minister insisted that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue
had never been ignored in the course of efforts to normalize ties
with Armenia, adding that the two processes should go hand in
hand. "Otherwise we are not in this business," he said.

But he also defended his government`s policy of reconciliation with
Armenia, saying that a lack of solution in the disputes in the southern
Caucasus was in the interest of no one. Erdogan also said Turkey`s
efforts were aimed not only at normalization in ties with Armenia but
also contributing to the welfare and stability of the entire region.

Erdogan`s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has promised "zero
problems with neighbors" since it came to power in 2002. Efforts
to normalize relations with Armenia gained momentum after a
Russian-Georgian war in August over the breakaway region of South
Ossetia.

Erdogan said in his parliamentary address that his government had
worked hard to push the Nagorno-Karabakh problem to the forefront of
the international political agenda. When US President Barack Obama
visited Turkey in early April, the Nagorno-Karabakh problem was the
most important issue highlighted by the Turkish side during the talks,
he said.

But he once again urged the United States, as well as Russia
and France, to speed up efforts to find a resolution to the
Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute, saying pleasant words and wishes were
not enough to bring about a breakthrough. The three countries have
been leading international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute, but their nearly two-decade work has so far produced little
progress. Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarksyan, met
in Prague earlier this month to discuss their territorial dispute,
and they are expected to meet again in Russia next month to continue
the talks. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have said there was no progress
in the Prague meeting.

The United States and the European Union back Turkish-Armenian
rapprochement, but they are also wary of losing Azerbaijan, whose
participation in Western plans to curb European dependence on Russia
for energy is key to success of any project to that effect. Amid
tension with Turkey, Aliyev visited Russia, causing concerns that Baku
is inching towards Russia at the expense of its ties with the West.

Asked to comment on his country`s ties with Russia, Aliyev said
yesterday that Azerbaijan`s relations with Russia were important and
had a long history, without elaborating.

Gas price increase on the way Erdogan, who traveled to Baku accompanied
by Energy Minister Taner Yildiz and other ministers, said officials
from the two countries would discuss changing the price at which
Ankara purchases Azerbaijani natural gas.

Turkey currently purchases 6.5 billion cubic meters of natural
gas, about one-sixth of its total annual need, from Azerbaijan at a
discount price of $120 per 1,000 cubic meters. It pays an average of
about $250 per 1,000 cubic meters for natural gas it purchases from
other suppliers. Some of that gas is shipped on to Greece. Turkey is
seeking an additional 8 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan.

"I cannot say that the price is fair," Erdogan said at the press
conference with Aliyev. "We will have talks and make sure the price
will be a fair one."

Partners in the 7.9 billion euro Nabucco project, aimed at cutting
Europe`s dependency on Russian gas, want Azerbaijani gas to fill the
pipeline when it opens in 2013. Nabucco will eventually carry about
30 billion cubic meters of gas from the Caspian and Middle East to
meet about 5 percent of European demand.