TURKEY WANTS TO CHANGE KARABAKH STATUS QUO

news.az
Nov 18 2009
Azerbaijan

Ahmet Davutoglu Turkey will do its utmost to resolve the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu has said.

He was talking to MPs about a wide range of foreign policy issues at
a budget and appropriations committee meeting in the Grand National
Assembly on Tuesday, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported.

Davutoglu told the committee, "Turkey will never be reconciled with
the occupation of Azerbaijani lands and will spare no effort to
resolve the conflict."

Turkey signed the protocols with Armenia because it wants to normalize
relations and settle the Karabakh problem, Davutoglu said. By signing
the protocols "Yerevan has recognized the present borders of Turkey
and does not have any territorial claims on us".

On the Karabakh conflict, Davutoglu said, "The status quo has remained
unchanged for 17 years… Babies who were one year old in Karabakh
and Lachin in 1993 are now turning 18. How long will these poor people
live far from their native lands?

"Turkey cannot be reconciled with this situation and is seeking changes
in the status quo on the Karabakh issue. Turkey could have kept Armenia
in isolation for many years. What would we have achieved by doing
so? Today, international attention is focused on this problem. The
OSCE’s Minsk Group would have calmly carried on as they were, visiting
the regional countries, but the problem would have remained unsettled,
but now we are demanding that they resolve the Karabakh issue. The
Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents have had seven meetings this year."