TURKEY SCRAMBLES TO SOOTH AZERBAIJAN AFTER ARMENIA DEAL

Agence France Presse
Oct 19 2009

Turkey Monday gave strong assurances that its support for close ally
Azerbaijan in the Nagorny Karabakh conflict with Armenia remains
unchanged despite reconciliation efforts between Ankara and Yerevan.

"Azeri soil is as sacred for us as our own and liberating this soil
from occupation is one of our primary national issues," Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters.

"Even if the skies fall down, Turkey’s position will not change… Our
policy on ending the occupation… will continue until the problem
is resolved," he said.

Azerbaijan, linked to Turkey with close ethnic and economic bonds, has
slammed the two protocols Ankara and Yerevan signed this month to end
decades of hostility, establish formal ties and open their border, wary
that Turkish support for its own dispute with Armenia will now wane.

Ankara sealed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity
with Baku after ethnic Armenian separatists, backed by Yerevan,
seized the Nagorny Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts
from Azerbaijan in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.

Turkish media at the weekend quoted Azeri President Ilham Aliyev
as saying that Baku was no longer happy with selling natural gas to
Turkey at low prices and would consider routes other than Turkey to
ship gas to Europe.

Reports also said Turkish flags were removed from a Baku cemetery,
where Turkish soldiers who fought for Azerbaijan in the early 20th
century are buried.

Commenting on Aliyev’s remarks on gas, Davutoglu said: "The
negotiations are continuing… I believe we will reach a positive
outcome."

He also said that Azeri authorities had told Ankara that Turkish flags
at the cemetery were taken down temporarily as part of maintainance.

Ankara’s bridge-building with Yerevan faces strong opposition also
at home, with nationalists accusing the government of selling out
Azerbaijan, whose alliance with Turkey is often described as "one
nation, two states."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that progress in resolving
the Nagorny Karabakh conflict will be a determinining factor in the
Turkish parliament’s ratification of the deals with Armenia.

The protocols, which will take effect only after they are ratified
by the legislatures of both countries, are expected to be submitted
to Turkey’s parliament this week, but a vote is unlikely soon.