WILL TURKEY SUPPORT AZERBAIJAN IN CASE OF WAR? DAVUTOGLU AVOIDS DIRECT ANSWER

Tert.am
20.04.10

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met on April 19 with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov with Armenia-Turkey rapprochement and the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict settlement on the agenda.

Davutoglu is also said to have informed his Azerbaijani colleagues
about the meetings the Armenian and Turkish high-ranking officials
held in Washington in the framework of the World Nuclear Security
Summit on April 12-13.

At a press conference after the meeting with Mammadyarov Davutoglu
gave an evasive answer to a question over whether Turkey would support
Azerbaijan should the war resume.

"We do not want the situation get tenser in the region. Let’s build
together a Caucasus where all the parties will mutually respect each
other’s territorial integrity," local Turkish daily Radikal quotes
Davutoglu as saying.

Turkish foreign minister also said that Turkey wanted to see all
borders open in the South Caucasus.

"We hope that the South Caucasus will see a new era when all
the borders will be open, all relations normalized, stability
established and when there will be mutual trust. We hope that the
[Nagorno-Karabakh] process initiated by the [OSCE] Minsk Group will
be accelerated and will reach its final objective," said Davutoglu.