Tehran Times, Iran
Oct 24 2009

Azerbaijan, Turkey officials send messages of brotherhood

To alleviate the tensions between Azerbaijan and Turkey over the
so-called flag crisis, which erupted a week ago, Istanbul Aydin
University and the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Istanbul held a
conference on Thursday at the university to discuss a solution to the
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, an ethnic-territorial conflict between
Azerbaijan and Armenia, to point out Turkey’s interest in securing the
disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region within Azerbaijan’s territorial
borders.

A wide range of participants from many walks of political and academic
life from both Turkey and Azerbaijan attended the conference to
discuss the history of Nagorno-Karabakh and offer constructive
solutions to the problem.

In the opening speech at the conference, Haydar Aliyev and Caucasus
Research Center Chairman Salih Güney said the aim of such events is to
create unity and support between the two countries. Taking the floor,
Azerbaijan’s Istanbul Consul General Seyyad Aran said Nagorno-Karabakh
is not only Azerbaijan’s problem, but Turkey’s as well. `In this
respect, Turkey should expend its efforts on the solution of the
problem,’ said Aran. The chairman of Aydin University’s board of
trustees, Mustafa Ayd?n, said in his speech that it is not appropriate
to deepen the crisis, which was a result of misunderstandings between
Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Speaking during the first session of the conference, Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) Konya deputy Mustafa Kabakci said there
may be small misunderstandings and conflicts between two countries but
they should not become permanent problems. `There needs to be
definite, concrete actions and steps taken to expand security and
trust in the region. We have discussed these protocols (on the
normalization of relations and the establishment of diplomatic ties
between Turkey and Armenia) with the parliament speaker and the prime
minister. We have decided not to approve the protocols if there is no
development noted in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue,’ he said.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Onur Oymen said they
have done their best to promote peace and security in the South
Caucasus. `The region is not safe today. We saw wars in Georgia last
year, and the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is too fragile, there might be
wars in the region again,’ he said.

Criticizing the AK Party government over the protocols signed with
Armenia, Oymen said the protocols and the normalization of relations
with Armenia is the project of David Phillips, a senior analyst at the
Atlantic Council think tank in the United States. He also said the
protocols do not include either a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
as a condition for opening the border between Turkey and Armenia or
the Kars Treaty, an agreement between the Ottomans and Soviet Russia
in 1921 demarcating Turkey’s eastern borders with Russia.

The president of Istanbul Aydin University, Salih Celikkale; the head
of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences History Institute, Yagub
Mahmudov; the deputy general director of the Turkey State Archives,
Mustafa Budak; and the director of the Turkish Center for
International Relations and Strategic Analysis (TURKSAM), Sinan Ogan,
were also among the participants of the one-day conference.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress