Armenian Azeri pullout crucial for accord-Erdogan
Sun Oct 11, 2009 8:38am EDT
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* Erdogan urges Armenians to withdraw from Karabakh
* Says withdrawal would help gain Turkish parliament support
* Azerbaijan says deal "casts shadow" on ties with Turkey
By Alexandra Hudson
ISTANBUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
said on Sunday that Armenia must withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh in
Azerbaijan to assure his parliament’s approval for a peace accord
signed between Turkey and Armenia.
"Turkey cannot take a positive step towards Armenia unless Armenia
withdraws from Azerbaijani land…if that issue is solved our people
and our parliament will have a more positive attitude towards this
protocol and this process," Erdogan told a party congress in Ankara.
Turkey and Armenia signed an accord on Saturday aimed at restoring ties
and opening their shared border. Last-minute disagreements delayed the
signing for more than three hours, forcing U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton to engage in intense talks to salvage a deal.
The Turkish and Armenian parliaments must approve the accord in the
face of opposition from nationalists on both sides and an Armenian
diaspora which insists Turkey acknowledge the killings of up to 1.5
million Armenians during World War One as genocide.
"We will bring the protocol to parliament but parliament has to see the
conditions between Azerbaijan and Armenia to decide whether this
protocol can be implemented," Erdogan said.
Turkey cut ties and shut its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of
Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan which was then fighting a losing battle
against Armenian separatists in Karabakh.
In his comments, Erdogan looked to reassure ally Azerbaijan, which
reacted angrily to the deal, saying it could threaten security in the
region and "cast a shadow" over its relations with Ankara.
"The normalisation of relations between Turkey and Armenia before the
withdrawal of Armenian troops from occupied Azeri territory is in
direct contradiction to the national interests of Azerbaijan," the
Azeri Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
In a strongly worded statement, the ministry added the deal "casts a
shadow over the fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey,
which are built on historical roots.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Armenian counterpart
Edward Nalbandian signed the Swiss-mediated deal in Zurich at a
ceremony also attended by European Union foreign policy chief Javier
Solana, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and France’s Foreign
Minister Bernard Kouchner.
If the agreement comes into effect, it would boost European
Union-candidate Turkey’s diplomatic clout in the volatile South
Caucasus, a transit corridor for oil and gas to the West.
Turkish officials told Reuters the two sides had many disagreements
over each others’ statements in Zurich, including oblique references to
the Karabakh conflict. In the end, neither Davutolgu nor Nalbadian made
public statements.
Although landlocked Armenia stands to make big gains, opening its
impoverished economy to trade and investment, Armenia’s leader Serzh
Sarksyan faces protests at home and from the huge Armenian diaspora,
which views the thaw with suspicion.
(Additional reporting by Afet Mehtiyeva in Baku; writing by Alexandra
Hudson; editing by Michael Roddy)