AZERBAIJANI MP: MUCH INTERESTING TO BE EXPECTED FROM TURKISH PRIME MINISTER’S VISIT TO USA

Trend
April 12 2010
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani MP believes that the meetings held in the United States
by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will have an
interesting result.

"Meetings held in the United States at a summit on nuclear security
by the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan could have an interesting
result. This result will firstly be reflected in the statements by
Erdogan and Armenian President Serj Sargsyan during their meeting. It
is possible to think that the result of his meeting with the U.S.

President Barack Obama would affect the future activities of the OSCE
Minsk Group," a member of the Political Council of New Azerbaijan Party
(YAP), MP Aydin Mirzazade said on April 12.

Today Erdogan started visiting the U.S. According to MP, Azerbaijan,
with few exceptions, agrees with the updated Madrid principles of
the Minsk Group.

Armenia refuses the principles, which were agreed earlier. That
position puts it into a hopeless situation. Armenia should abandon
its position and respect the international legal norms. It seems
to me that after the meetings in the U.S., to some extent, we will
witness a change," said the MP.

The root of many of today’s global challenges comes from separatism.

Azerbaijan is one of the countries suffering from separatism, and
Turkey is doing its best to prevent it, said Mirzazade.

"It is commendable that Turkey at a high level protects the interests
of Azerbaijan. The recent statements once again proved that Ankara’s
position has not changed," said the MP.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.