Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
sept 20 2009

Relations with Azerbaijan is one of the priorities of Turkish foreign
policy – FM
20.09.2009 11:26

Azerbaijan, Baku, September 20 /Trend News, A. Akhundov/

Relations with Azerbaijan is one of the priorities of Turkish foreign
policy and any step of Turkey contrary to the interests of Azerbaijan
is out of the question, the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
said Saturday in an interview with CNN Turk television.

"Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani territories is contrary to all
standards of international law. Something must be done about it. And
Turkey takes the initiative in the issue of normalization of relations
with Armenia to speed up the process of resolving this conflict ", –
he said.

Davutoglu hoped that opening the border with Armenia will happen in
the near future.

"All parties, including the OSCE Minsk Group, are active and if we can
combine our efforts, not only the Turkish-Armenian border, but the
border between Azerbaijan and Armenia can be opened too", – he said.

According to Turkish Foreign Minister, the status quo in the Caucasus
is not profitable for any country in the region.

"In this situation it becomes necessary that a new player emerge, who
can change the situation in the Caucasus for the better. OSCE Minsk
Group did not succeed for 17 years", – said Davutoglu.

"It would be wrong to link the recent advances in the process of
normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations with the statement by US
President Barack Obama in the Turkish Parliament. These steps are made
solely by the will of Turkey to fully normalize the situation in the
region ", – said the Foreign Minister of Turkey.