AZERBAIJANI POLITICAL PARTY OFFICIAL: TURKEY-ARMENIA NORMALIZATION WILL REDUCE A NEED FOR EXISTENCE OF ARMENIAN LOBBY

Today
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April 1 2010
Azerbaijan

"Currently, the U.S. needs Turkey more than Ankara needs Washington,"
Deputy Chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA)
Nuraddin Mammadli said.

"Therefore, discussions on the so-called "Armenian genocide" by any
individual congressman does not mean that it will be adopted in the
U.S. Congress. The U.S. will not make such a strategic mistake in
its relations with Turkey," he said.

PFPA Deputy Chairman noted that the current pressure on Turkey will
not lead to any results.

The Armenian lobby is fearful of normalization of relations between
Armenia and Turkey.

"For this reason, it carries out such activities in Western countries,
which harms the Armenian-Turkish relations. This is the main motivation
for the Armenian lobby. Its representatives understand that if the
relations between Armenia and Turkey normalize, there will be no need
for existence of the Armenian lobby and it will lose its credibility
and financial sources. So, the Armenian lobby is not interested in
normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey," Mammadov added.

"The biggest paradox is that Turkey believed that the signing of
protocols on the normalization of relations with Armenia will help
get rid of the claims on its territory and seasonal games related to
recognition of the so-called "Armenian genocide". But this did not
happen, since Armenia is heavily dependent on the Armenian lobby.

Therefore, there is a very big difference in attitudes and standoff
between interests of Armenia and the Armenians supporting home from
abroad. This hinders development of Armenian-Turkish relations and
Armenia’s integration into the civilized world," he said.

According to him, in the current situation, the Turkish diplomacy
should take balanced steps.

"Ratification of the Armenian-Turkish protocols without taking into
account Ankara’s interests can make Armenia to take even harder
position in future. Therefore, Turkey should insist that Armenia
moderated appetites and renounced its claims. Otherwise, the problem
will never be solved," the PFPA official said.

"Turkey links ratification of Turkey-Armenia protocols with resolution
of the Karabakh problem. If no serious steps are taken to tackle the
Karabakh problem, the protocols will not be ratified," he noted.