AZERBAIJANI PARLIAMENTARIAN: TURKEY MADE ITS POSITION CLEAR FOR YEREVAN AND WASHINGTON

Today
April 15 2010
Azerbaijan

"That U.S. President Barack Obama will never utter the word
"Armenian genocide" is critically important for Turkey," member of
the Azerbaijani Parliament Fuad Muradov said commenting on the recent
Erdogan-Sargsyan meeting in Washington.

"This meeting is shrouded in a lot of stories and fables. But I think
that the most important is the fact that Ankara reiterated that a
lasting peace in the region can not be achieved without the settlement
of the Karabakh problem. Ankara did not yield in this matter and
reiterated its position that it had expressed many times," the MP said.

"Even before the meeting the rumors had it that a kind of "road map"
may be signed. However, I believe it is hard to predict any future
agreement following the well-known decision on the Zurich protocols
by the Armenian Constitutional Court as well as other related events.

Yerevan’s statements indicate that its non-constructive position on
all major regional issues remains unchanged," the MP said.

Asked whether U.S. will further seek Armenian-Turkish rapprochement
through defiance of Azerbaijan’s interests, Muradov said that "America
has multi-faced policy. Since Barack Obama came to power, they began
to use the so-called "smart politics", which implies return to the
solution of complex and urgent problems in the Middle East, region
of U.S. strategic interests. I think that they will show activity
also in resolving conflicts in the Caucasus region."

"In America, the issue of "Armenian genocide" has long been used
against Turkey, strategic partner of Washington. It is very important
for Ankara to succeed to make it clear to its overseas partner that
such a step is detrimental for relations between the two countries
and that it is impossible to achieve peace in the region without
resolving the Karabakh conflict," Muradov added.