AZERBAIJAN MAY ANNUL VISA REGIME WITH TURKEY, REPORTS SAY
Today’s Zaman
Nov 13 2009
Turkey
Azerbaijan is considering lifting its visa requirements for Turkish
citizens, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov was
reported as saying yesterday.
Azerbaijan has already annulled the visa regime for Turkish citizens
with diplomatic and service passports and "now we are talking about
abolishing visas for other Turkish nationals wishing to come to
Azerbaijan," Polukhov was quoted as saying by Azerbaijani news portal
Trend News.
Polukhov’s remarks came after Turkish media reported on Thursday
that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had told his Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) deputies about Baku’s preparations to
lift the visa requirements at a party meeting this week.
Relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan were strained over prospects
of Turkey reopening its border with neighboring Armenia without a
solution in Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols
on restoring their relations in October. Azerbaijan, which lost a
war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s, fears it
would lose major leverage in the territorial conflict with Yerevan
if ally Turkey opens its border with Armenia.