TURKISH PM OFF TO BAKU TO ALLAY CONCERNS OVER ARMENIA TIES

Agence France Presse
May 12 2009

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan flew to Azerbaijan on Tuesday to
reassure its leaders that Turkey’s efforts to reconcile with Armenia
may undermine Baku’s interests.

The visit, Erdogan said, is aimed at "eradicating misunderstandings
and misperceptions" over Turkey’s policies and pledged that Azeri
interests remained a priority for Ankara.

"Nobody should have the slightest doubt that Turkey will continue to
defend Azerbaijan’s interests as it has done so far," Erdogan told
reporters before his departure. "Our relations are strong and based
on a culture of fraternity."

Erdogan, accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, was to meet
with President Ilham Aliyev and address the Azeri parliament Wednesday.

Turkey said last month it had agreed a "roadmap" to normalise relations
with Armenia, its neighbor to the east, with which it has a bloody
history and no diplomatic ties.

Azerbaijan, which shares ethnic roots with Turkey, is worried that
Ankara may reconcile with Yerevan and re-open the border between the
two countries, overriding Azeri interests.

Ankara sealed its border with Armenia in 1991 in solidarity with Baku
over the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh, an Armenian-majority Azeri
enclave Armenia had occupied two years earlier, dealing a heavy
economic blow on Yerevan.

Ankara has said a peace deal with Armenia will depend on the resolution
of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict and is eager for progress on the
issue.

Turkish-Armenian ties have been poisoned also by Yerevan’s campaign
for an international recognition of the mass killings of Armenians
under the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

After his visit to Baku, Erdogan was to meet with Russian Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi Saturday.

Russia, which has been mediating between Armenia and Azerbaijan over
Nagorny Karabakh, is reportedly pushing for a summit between Aliyev
and Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian in June aimed at moving to
formally end the conflict.