DAVUTOGLU HEADS TO BAKU WITH MAMMADYAROV ABOARD HIS PLANE

Today’s Zaman
May 25 2009
Turkey

Only 11 days after accompanying the prime minister on an official
visit to Baku, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was scheduled yesterday
to depart from Damascus for Baku with his Azerbaijani counterpart on
board his private plane.

Davutoglu and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov were both
in Damascus over the weekend to participate in the 36th session of
the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference (OIC).

Davutoglu traveled by private plane to Damascus on Saturday morning
accompanied by a delegation of diplomats from his ministry, the
Anatolia news agency reported. Later on Saturday, Davutoglu announced
that he would proceed to Baku with Mammadyarov, Anatolia reported,
noting that the two would travel to Baku on board the private plane
which brought the Turkish minister and Turkish delegation to Damascus.

Davutoglu will discuss efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
problem between Azerbaijan and Armenia and energy issues, Anatolia
said. Azerbaijan has protested Turkish-Armenian reconciliation,
saying it would have negative implications for the region if the
reconciliation takes place without progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh
dispute. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Baku that there
would be no normal relations with Armenia unless Armenia withdraws
from Nagorno-Karabakh.

In Damascus, Mammadyarov said no progress has been achieved in
relations with Armenia. "With the current administration in Armenia,
we have not achieved anything. As a person leading the negotiations,
I cannot say that we have made even some progress in current issues,"
Mammadyarov was quoted as saying on Saturday.

While in Damascus on Saturday, Davutoglu addressed participants of
the meeting of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers and underlined
that the Islamic world is nowadays in more need of mutual dialogue,
communication and stability.

"It is a reality that a geo-strategic, geo-political and geo-economic
culture is emerging in the Islamic world. We need to draw a new vision
in line with the expectations of our times, traditions and values,"
Davutoglu was quoted as saying by Anatolia.

In his speech Davutoglu urged Israel to take serious steps towards
resolution of the Palestinian issue on the basis of a two-state
solution, while also calling on the OIC member-states to lend further
support to Pakistan.

During bilateral talks between Davutoglu and Iran’s Foreign Minister
Manouchehr Mottaki held on the sidelines of the Damascus meeting,
issues concerning Afghanistan and Pakistan, commercial relations,
political developments in Iraq and the election process in Iran were on
the agenda, Anatolia reported. Davutoglu also had bilateral talks with
Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, with whom he discussed the
election process in Iraq in addition to the issue of sharing of water
from the Euphrates River. "We will give as much water as possible to
our Iraqi and Syrian friends," Davutoglu said after talks with Zebari,
noting that the amount of precipitation this year was satisfactory.

During their bilateral meeting Davutoglu told Palestinian Foreign
Minister Riyad al-Maliki that peace efforts in the Middle East would
not be effective without removing the ongoing division among the
Palestinian groups.