ANKARA WON’T RATIFY PROTOCOLS, SAYS ALIYEV

Tert.am
13:23 ~U 28.01.10

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says he’s confident Ankara won’t
sign the Protocols until "occupied" lands are returned to Azerbaijan.

"There is a common understanding in the region that there should
be a first step by Armenia to start the liberation of the occupied
territories," Aliyev said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal,
on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He
said he was "fully satisfied" with Turkey’s understanding of the issue,
despite harshly criticizing Turkey’s handling of it in the past.

"If the two issues are disconnected, then probably Armenia will
freeze negotiations with Azerbaijan (over Nagorno-Karabakh)," said
Aliyev, adding that he believed economic pressure was one of the
main incentives for Armenia to come to the table. Aliyev has issued
previous warnings that such an outcome could lead to renewed war.

Turkey’s leaders, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
have repeatedly said that the border opening and settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are linked.

Aliyev has expressed his anger over the Turkey-Armenia talks by
threatening to reroute Azeri natural gas and oil exports away from
Turkey. "Azerbaijan can export gas in four directions: Turkey, Georgia,
Iran and Russia," Aliyev said Wednesday. "We can expand volumes of
gas in each of these directions."