Trend, Azerbaijan
Oct 14 2009
Actions contradicting Azerbaijani interests are akin to suicide for
Turkish leadership: representative of Turkish ruling party
Turkey, Ankara, October 14 / Trend News Y. Aliyev /
Turkey will not take any actions contradicting Azerbaijani interests,
deputy chairman of the committee for foreign relations of Turkish
ruling Justice and Development Party, Kursad Tuzman, said at a meeting
with Azerbaijani MPs.
"The actions contradicting Azerbaijani interests are akin to suicide
for Turkish leadership," Tuzman said at a meeting between Azerbaijani
parliamentary delegation and representatives of Turkish Justice and
Development Party.
He said that Turkey-Azerbaijan relations do not limit by emotional and
ethnic cognation. Taking it into account, Turkish authorities can not
take actions contradicting Azerbaijani interests, he said.
Azerbaijani MPs participating in the meeting expressed their anxiety
with signing of Ankara-Yerevan protocols.
MPs said that Azerbaijan does not oppose opening of Turkey-Armenian
border provided de-occupation of Azerbaijani lands. Parliamentarians
expressed their willing for the Turkish legislative body not to ratify
Ankara-Yerevan protocols till Armenia releases occupied territories.
MPs said that they believe in Turkish Prime-Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s statements on impossibility to open the border till the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts is solved. But they worry about external
pressure which Turkish diplomacy can face while solving this issue.
Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward
Nalbandian signed the protocol Ankara-Yerevan in Zurich on October 10.
MPs Samad Seyidov, Nizami Jafarov, Ali Huseynov, Ganira Pashayeva,
Mubariz Gurbanli, Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Akram Abdullayev, Gultekin
Hajibayli, Asef Hajiyev, Rovshan Rzayev and Fazail Agamali will hold
several meetings in Ankara to discuss this situation.
Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey have been broken due
to Armenia’s claims of an alleged genocide, and its occupation of
Azerbaijani lands. The border between them has been broken since 1993.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7
districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed
a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia,
France, and the U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations.