TURKISH EXPERT: ARMENIA DRAGGING OUT KARABAKH TALKS

news.az
Nov 20 2009
Azerbaijan

Sinan Ogan The talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents
on 22 November are unlikely to produce a major breakthrough in settling
the Karabakh conflict, Sinan Ogan has said.

The head of the Turkish Centre for International Relations and
Strategic Analysis (TURKSAM) told 1news.az, "No significant
breakthrough in negotiations is expected in Munich as Yerevan is
not ready for constructive talks and uses them just to continue the
occupation of Azerbaijani land."

"Armenia’s tactics are clear," Ogan said.

"The Armenians are trying to protract the negotiations till April in
order to put pressure on Turkey through the United States. And then,
naturally, relations between Baku and Ankara will worsen and Yerevan
will get additional dividends.

"This is clear to everyone. Armenians forget that Turkish diplomacy
has a 600-year history. Don’t they understand that we realize what
they are trying to do?" Ogan said.

The Karabakah problem is one of the issues that Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan will discuss on 7 December in Washington and
in Moscow too, Ogan said. "Turkey will spare no efforts in putting
pressure" on the countries co-chairing the OSCE’s Minsk Group that
is mediating a resolution to the conflict, he said.

Ogan said that the talks should be effective, otherwise Azerbaijan
has the right to suspend them and settle its problem in other ways.

"How can we bear all this?" Ogan asked. "The United States, Russia
and France should persuade Armenia to stop this policy and comply
with the norms of international law."