TURKEY DISPLEASED AZERBAIJAN EXCLUDED FROM NUKE SUMMIT

Hurriyet Daily News
April 9 2010
Turkey

Turkey has conveyed its concerns to the United States about Azerbaijan
not being invited to the upcoming nuclear summit in Washington, D.C.,
diplomatic sources have told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

"We have passed on the message that it is not correct to not invite
Baku to an international event where Armenia will be represented,"
said the sources, adding that Washington responded by providing
Ankara with information about the criteria used to determine the
states would be invited to participate.

Heads of state and government from more than 40 countries will
participate in the summit hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama on
Monday and Tuesday.

"We are following this issue very closely," Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu told reporters Friday in the Central Anatolian province
of Konya. "We have engaged necessary contacts with all the parties
concerned."

Davutoglu did not elaborate further on his remarks.

Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, Turkey’s top
diplomat, held talks Friday in Baku where he conveyed a letter from
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev. Diplomatic sources said the visit also aimed to compensate
for Baku’s non-participation in the nuclear summit.

In Baku, Sinirlioglu also met with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister
Elmar Memmedyarov, who had spoken by telephone a day previously with
his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu.

Turkey has informed Baku about Sinirlioglu’s meetings in Yerevan
early this week and Davutoglu’s talks in France, one of the countries
co-chairing the Minsk Group, which aims to find a settlement to the
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Three-way talks depend on Baku

Ambiguity persists over a possible meeting between Erdogan and Obama
in Washington. Diplomatic sources said the program is not yet clear,
but did not rule out a pull-aside formula, in which Obama could hold
brief talks with the Turkish premier on the margins of the summit.

There is also talk of a meeting on the sidelines of the Washington
summit involving Obama, Erdogan and Armenian President Serge
Sarkisian. While in Baku, Sinirlioglu was said to be testing the
waters to see how Azerbaijani officials would react to the idea of
such a three-way meeting.

Iran meanwhile plans to host a counter-summit April 17 to 18 that
is expected to draw large participation. Though Iran has extended an
invitation to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, diplomatic sources said
Davutoglu’s presence at the Tehran event is a "weak possibility"
because of the minister’s scheduled visit to Brazil.

The sources indicated, however, that another official from the Turkish
Foreign Ministry could represent Turkey at the summit in Iran.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress