Agence France Presse
Oct 22 2009
Turkey reassures anxious Azerbaijan on Armenia deal
by Emil Guliyev
BAKU, Oct 22 2009
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Thursday reassured
Turkey’s anxious ally Azerbaijan that Ankara would not ignore Baku’s
interests in its reconciliation efforts with Armenia.
Davutoglu met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov amid
growing concern in Baku that Turkey is diminishing its support in
Azerbaijan’s conflict with Armenia over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh
region.
"We consider Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity as important as
Turkey’s. We value it and will never cause damage to it," Davutoglu
told journalists after the meeting, held on the sidelines of a
gathering of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation regional grouping.
"We will do everything for the liberation of Azerbaijan’s territories.
Turkey’s authorities will not change their policy on this issue.
Nothing will damage our unity," he said.
The two ministers later visited a cemetery in Baku where Turkish
soldiers who fought for Azerbaijan in the early 20th century are
buried.
Baku removed Turkish flags from the cemetery after complaining that
the Azerbaijani flag was not allowed at a football match in the
Turkish city of Bursa earlier this month that was attended by the
Armenian and Turkish leaders. Turkish officials later expressed regret
over the flag incident.
Mammadyarov told reporters at the cemetery that he had discussed the
flag dispute with his Turkish counterpart.
"As far as the crisis over the flag is concerned, minister Davutoglu
has told us that Turkey is investigating the incident and that those
who are guilty will be punished," he said. "We agreed to resolve any
problems jointly."
The Turkish government on Wednesday submitted to parliament two
landmark protocols with Armenia aimed at ending decades of hostility
over World War I-era massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey and Armenia on October 10 signed the pacts on establishing
diplomatic ties and opening their common border after months of Swiss
mediation and need their respective parliaments’ approval before the
deals can take effect.
Although internationally hailed as a major step, the deals have deeply
angered Azerbaijan, which fears a drop in Turkish support over Nagorny
Karabakh.
Backed by Yerevan, ethnic Armenian separatists seized control of
Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan during a war
in the early 1990s that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity
with Azerbaijan — with which it has strong ethnic, trade and energy
links — against Yerevan’s support for the enclave’s separatists.
In remarks deeply worrying for Ankara, Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev said last week that Turkish terms for buying Azerbaijani gas
were unacceptable and that Baku is considering other routes for
shipping its gas to Europe.
Ex-Soviet Azerbaijan is the starting point for a key corridor of
energy pipelines carrying oil and gas from the Caspian Sea through
Georgia and Turkey to Europe.