Trend, Azerbaijan
April 23 2010

Political scientist: Freezing Zurich protocols testifies it is
impossible to exert any pressure on Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 23 /Trend, M.Aliyev/

Freezing the Zurich protocols on the opening of the Turkish-Armenian
borders once again testified that it is impossible to exert any
pressure on Azerbaijan, head of the political innovations and
technologies center, political scientist Mubariz Ahmadoglu told Trend
on April 23.

"Some pro-Armenian countries thought that it was possible to exert
pressure on Azerbaijan and its president. However, the events showed
that if there are national interests, it is impossible to exert any
pressure on Azerbaijan president," Ahmadoglu said.

On April 22, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on
suspension of the Armenia-Turkey Protocols’ ratification at the
Parliament.

Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward
Nalbandian signed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols in Zurich Oct. 10.

Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey were broken due to
Armenian claims of an alleged genocide and its occupation of
Azerbaijani lands. Their border closed in 1993.

Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan’s message to nation says that
Armenia has decided not to exit the process of normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations, but rather, to suspend the procedure of
ratifying the Protocols. The president believes this to be in the best
interests of nation.

According to Ahmadoglu, the only goal of Armenia in raising the
question of normalizing relations with Turkey was to delay the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue and harm the relations between Turkey and
Azerbaijan, but it failed to do it.

"There were certain forces inside Turkey that tried to harm the
relations between the two countries, but they failed. The last meeting
in Washington showed that Turkey protects Azerbaijan’s interests not
only in Azerbaijan, but also outside the country," Ahmadoglu added.