DAVUTOGLU TO DEPART FOR BAKU SOON AFTER WASHINGTON TALKS
Today’s Zaman
April 19 2010
Turkey
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is scheduled to depart for Baku
today in an apparent bid to underline the importance attached by
Ankara to Azerbaijan’s national interests vis-a-vis Turkey’s ongoing
normalization efforts with the two countries’ joint neighbor, Armenia.
Speaking to reporters in Washington on Thursday after accompanying
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to US President Barack Obama’s
nuclear security summit and Davutoglu’s bilateral talks with US
officials after the summit, the foreign minister said he will have
a thorough exchange of views with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
concerning the Turkish side’s meetings in Washington. Davutoglu was
apparently referring to Erdogan’s meeting with Armenian President
Serzh Sarksyan and his meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian in particular.
Only days before his talks with Sarksyan and Obama and before
Davutoglu’s meeting with Nalbandian in Washington, Erdogan sent
Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu, a Foreign Ministry undersecretary,
on consecutive visits first to Yerevan and then to Baku as his
special envoy.
In a bid to highlight Ankara’s determination to keep Baku informed
regarding every step of Turkey’s normalization process with Armenia,
Davutoglu on Thursday stressed that he would travel to Azerbaijan
soon after wrapping up his visit to Brazil – – which took place on
Friday and Saturday – – "Not even spending time with [my] family,"
and added, "That’s to say, we won’t let even one day pass."