TURKISH MP: CHANGE IN MINSK GROUP FORMAT SHOULD BE DECIDED BY OSCE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

Today
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feb 25 2010
Azerbaijan

Day.Az interview with head of the Turkish delegation to the OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly, member of the Grand National Assembly of
Turkey (Parliament) from the ruling Justice and Development Party
Alaattin Buyukkaya.

In your opinion, what contribution can Kazakhstan’s OSCE chairmanship
make in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

Kazakhstan’s chairmanship can be regarded as a chance to resolve
the Karabakh problem. Naturally, everything depends on Kazakhstan’s
stepping up efforts to address the problem and the interest of
the conflicting sides to hold consultation with Kazakhstan. Taking
advantage of its chairmanship, Kazakhstan can expedite work of the
Minsk Group and assist in achieving concrete results in resolving
the conflict.

During OSCE Chairman-in-Office Kanat Saudabayev’s visit to Azerbaijan
and Armenia, the media broadly discussed Kazakhstan’s involvement
with the OSCE Minsk Group. But involvement of a new country in the
work of the Minsk Group requires to change the format of the group,
increase the number of co-chairs or replace them. This issue should be
resolved by the OSCE Committee of Ministers. I believe Kazakhstan’s
talks with the Minsk Group co-chair countries to accelerate the
conflict resolution is the most real step in this matter.

Armenia has refused to ratify the Armenian-Turkish protocols. Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan has already urged Turkey to ratify the
Protocols first. Why Armenia wants Turkey to ratify the protocols
first?

Our views regarding the protocols are clear. We adhere to a consistent
position on Karabakh. Because of this the protocols have not yet
appeared in the Turkish Parliament. We made concessions to the
Armenian side and stated that we will ratify the protocols and take
steps to open borders once Armenia withdraws from five of Azerbaijan’s
occupied lands. But the Armenian side seems to be very cautious in
this issue. Armenia says let Turkey ratify the protocols first, and
then it will think about withdrawal from the five regions. In fact,
their desire for Turkey to launch the ratification process first is
due to our terms and conditions concerning Karabakh.

Turkey has voiced its discontent with the Armenian Constitutional
Court decision. It seems both Turkey and Armenia advanced new terms
after the protocols were signed…

Of course, the protocols contained neither conditions on the Karabakh
issue nor comments of the Armenia Constitutional Court. But one
cannot deny that the Armenian Constitutional Court has an authority
to comment on conformance of international instruments and agreements
with the Constitution and laws of the country. So, in general, we do
not oppose the Constitutional Court decision. We mainly disagree with
preamble of the decision which contains recommendations on continuation
of the process in stages which Armenia requires. In any case, given
sensitivity of the issue, the signatories to the document should have
foreseen the problems that may arise later.

Armenia claims that Turkey cannot involve the Karabakh issue in this
process since the protocols make no mention of the conflict…

It is true that the documents make no mention of the Karabakh
conflict. If there would be something about it, Armenia would surely
oppose it and the protocols would not have been signed. But these
protocols meet interests of Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan because
these accords imply that Armenia unconditionally recognizes Turkey’s
territorial integrity and the commission of historians is tasked to
study the "genocide" and achieving regional peace.

As you know, the Armenian Constitution calls Turkey’s territorial
integrity into question. The Armenian side has always opposed to
studying this issue by historians, and claimed that it was political
in nature. But by signing the protocols, it agreed to study of the
issue by historians. At the same time, Armenia has agreed to Turkey’s
participation in peace processes in the region. This means that
paves a way for Turkey’s involvement in liberation of Azerbaijan’s
occupied territories.

What do you expect from Turkish PM Erdogan’s U.S. trip to take place
in April?

I do not know details of PM’s visit to the United States. All urgent
issues including Turkish-Armenian relations and the Karabakh conflict
will certainly be discussed. I think that Barack Obama would put
pressure on the Prime Minister in terms of ratification of the
protocols to establish relations with Armenia and to recognize the
"genocide". Iran, Israel and Iraq also will be the subject of the
dialogue. I am confident that Prime Minister Erdogan will protect
Turkey’s interests in the best manner.