AZERBAIJANI EXPERT: U.S. POLICY ON TURKEY-ARMENIA NORMALIZATION HAS COMPLETELY FAILED
Today.Az
02 February 2010 [17:04]
Azerbaijani political expert Vafa Guluzade says rapprochement between
Armenia and Turkey, in fact, is impossible which has already happened.
"Signing of the Zurich protocols was initiative by Washington and
personally by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It was the U.S.
attempt to win over Armenia to the sphere of influence of Washington,
Ankara and NATO," the expert said.
"At the same time Russia cannot back these agreements. But Moscow
has not openly voiced its discontent. Demonstrations of Armenians
against rapprochement with Turkey show that Armenia has not renounced
its claims of recognition of the "Armenian genocide" in the Ottoman
Empire by the world powers. Armenian Constitutional Court’s adopting
the Zurich protocols with reservations, which is contrary to legal
norms of international law, are evidence of this."
I think it was Moscow who ordered these actions by Armenia. So, I
think that it is premature to talks about opening the Armenian-Turkish
border and Armenia’s falling into West’s sphere of influence," the
political expert said.
He believes "Turkey can never recognize a country which has territorial
claims to it. Therefore, Ankara’s ratification of the Zurich protocols
on mutual recognition of each other is impossible in this situation."
"In addition to this, Azerbaijan made clear to Ankara that if
rapprochement with Yerevan deepens, Turkey will lose Azerbaijan as
an ally. All this makes the opening of border with Yerevan extremely
unprofitable for Turkey. We can say that policy of the U.S., as
well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Armenian-Turkish
relations has completely failed," the political expert noted.
"There is a corridor of E50, road and air links between Turkey and
Armenia. But the rapprochement between Yerevan and Ankara is impossible
which has already happened."
As to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the expert said "Russia is
constantly trying to come up with any new senseless documents which
inhibit the process of resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict,"
he added.
"Moscow’s aim is to "pull" Azerbaijan to its side in all parameters,
including both economic and political. But Baku insists firmly on
his position and will make no changes in its foreign policy."
"It became clear for all once again that Azerbaijan negotiates to solve
the Karabakh conflict not with Yerevan, but Moscow, which dictates
all actions to its dominion Armenia. Therefore, I believe that we can
achieve solution to the Karabakh problem only when Russia’s influence
in our region will not be as great as now," he added.