KARABAKH A ‘MAJOR ISSUE’ IN ARMENIAN-TURKISH TALKS

news.az
April 13 2010
Azerbaijan

APA interviews Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

You are accompanying Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
on his visit to Washington, where he discussed many issues today,
especially during his meeting with the Armenian president. What place
did Azerbaijan, and especially Nagorno-Karabakh, take in the talks?

As usual, this was a major issue. Our prime minister is very interested
in explaining to the Armenian leaders the sensitive points of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We believe Azerbaijan is an integral part
of a solution to the problem in the Caucasus and that its exclusion
from the process is out of the question. There is no question of
Turkey leaving Azerbaijan out of the cycle in any way.

Before the US visit, I spoke to Azerbaijani diplomats. Our
representative has been in Baku and Yerevan. We are in frequent
contact with them.

It is also important for Turkey that the Obama administration focus
its attention on this topic. I want to reiterate that the liberation
of the occupied Azerbaijani territories was one of the goals of
the Turkish-Armenian protocols, in addition to the normalization of
Turkish-Armenian bilateral relations.

We will maintain our peaceful perspective but we will not let
anyone put pressure on Turkey over issues on which we can give no
concessions. We hope our counterparts on this issue have received
the message.

The international community must understand that one-sided peace is
impossible in the South Caucasus.

What is the next step in the normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations?

The fact is that we have always been aware that Turkish-Armenian
reconciliation alone is not enough to create peace and stability in
the South Caucasus. Only with a comprehensive solution can we maintain
the atmosphere of reconciliation and remove the remaining barriers
to dialogue, cooperation and peace in the region. This, of course,
will require political will and courage.

We all want to forget the previous hostility and to instigate in
future positive aspects of common history. It is very important that
we have a common aspiration to build a bright future in the South
Caucasus. One of them is signing the Turkish-Armenian protocols in
Zurich on 10 October. However, the decision of the Constitutional
Court of Armenia to introduce changes to the protocols was a sudden
obstacle to ratification of the protocols.

If all sides – we and they – take responsibility and try to contribute
to the achievement of comprehensive peace in the South Caucasus, then
the Turkish parliament will ratify the protocols in the near future.

This will not only facilitate the rapprochement between the two
nations, but also continue the way to the new future and establishment
of peace, prosperity and cooperation. In this respect, the urgent
need is not to impede the establishment of peace and stability under
a veil of fictional juridical problems.

However, as our PM said, we will explain to the US administration that
we cannot achieve lasting peace in the region without resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue. We strongly believe that the occupation of
Azerbaijani lands by Armenia complicated cooperation in the Caucasus
on a regional and global scale. The OSCE Minsk Group is the only
international instrument that can induce the parties to take steps
to overcome their differences and reach a peaceful settlement.

Recognition of the so-called ‘Armenian genocide’ will have a very
negative impact on the further establishment of peace in the Caucasus.

May US President Obama recognize the ‘Armenian genocide’ this month,
thereby spoiling strategic relations with Turkey? If so, how will it
influence the negotiations on Turkish-Armenian rapprochement?

I hope that President Barack Obama will not recognize it on 24 April
[marked by Armenians as Genocide Remembrance Day]. Every spring
we face with fear the threat of crisis in US-Turkish relations. The
United States now has two options: to bring to nought all the progress
achieved in relations between Turkey and Armenia, and in general in
the South Caucasus, or to continue promoting the peace process in
the region. We think they will choose the second path.