TURKEY, AZERBAIJAN REAFFIRM COMMITMENT TO ALLIANCE

Today’s Zaman
June 23 2009
Turkey

The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Turkey met in Istanbul on
Sunday evening for an unofficial meeting, during which they reaffirmed
the neighboring countries’ understanding of "one nation, two states."

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Azerbaijani
counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov, were together for a one-and-a-half-hour
dinner at a restaurant as the latter stopped in Istanbul before
returning to Baku after a visit to Japan.

"We have reviewed all developments in the region with the understanding
of ‘one nation, two states,’ as we have always done. We have together
discussed the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the
recent period, the other developments in the region and, in addition,
the developments in our bilateral relations, which are proceeding
extremely well. This was not an officially planned meeting," Davutoglu
was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency as the two responded
to questions from reporters following the dinner.

After decades of hostility, Turkey and Armenia announced in April a
"roadmap" for re-establishing diplomatic relations and opening their
shared border. But Ankara’s ally Azerbaijan said Armenia should first
leave Nagorno-Karabakh, a mostly ethnic Armenian enclave that broke
away after fighting a bloody war with Azerbaijan in the 1990s and
claims independence. Turkey then offered support for the Azerbaijani
position, complicating further progress in talks with Armenia.

Davutoglu was reminded of remarks by his Armenian counterpart, Edward
Nalbandian, who had said Yerevan expects Ankara to take new steps
for the normalization of bilateral ties and was asked to elaborate
on those possible steps.

"I have always said, ‘Steps are steps that should be taken
mutually.’ As Turkey, our eventual goal is maintaining permanent
stability, peace and welfare in the region. This doesn’t take place via
unilateral steps. All parties should take steps with goodwill. Turkey
has shown in the past that it will take steps with goodwill toward
the entire region. But permanent peace can be maintained in case of
mutually taking these steps. Indeed, we have dealt with these issues,"
Davutoglu replied.

Mammadyarov, who described his meeting with Davutoglu as "very
important and good," was asked about the current phase of negotiations
between Baku and Yerevan.

Mammadyarov said negotiations were still under way and that his
country expected Yerevan to end its occupation of Azerbaijani land
at the end of these negotiations.