WorldBulletin.net, Turkey
May 2 2010

Turkey’s FM wants Azerbaijan-Armenia peace, warns Israel

Remarking on Israeli actions, Davutoglu said that incidents in Gaza
could not be indulged.
Sunday, 02 May 2010 12:47

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Saturday that Turkey
was eager to open its borders with Armenia, because it wanted a full
integration with its neighbors.

Davutoglu delivered a speech at a conference titled "Turkish Foreign
Policy in Changing World" held by the South East European Studies at
Oxford (SEESOX) and Turkey’s Sabanci University at Oxford University
in Britain.

Turkey has taken measures before crises in its region and countries
should prevent wars and tensions, he said.

Davutoglu said Turkey was a member of the UN Security Council and G20,
and it also launched the Alliance of Civilizations initiative. "Turkey
is working to contribute to global order in these three formations,"
he said.

Turkey wanted a secure region and neighbors in Middle East, Caucasus,
Balkans and Gulf region, he said.

"Why do we so active regarding Iran’s nuclear program? It is not
because we defend Iran, but we want a safe region. We don’t want Iran
to have nuclear weapons and we don’t want any military tension in our
region," he said.

"Political dialogue and diplomacy are needed for solutions to
problems," he said.

"Azerbaijan-Armenia deal"

In regard to relations with Armenia, Davutoglu said Turkey was eager
to open its borders with Armenia, because it wanted a full integration
with its neighbors.

Davutoglu reiterated that Armenia-Azerbaijan dispute must be healed
for stability in the region.

`¦Of course we want to open our border because we want full
integration with our neighbors. However, it would not be enough to
open Turkey-Armenia border. We also want that Armenia-Azerbaijan
border is opened so that regional stability could be restored,’ said
Davutoglu.

"No indulgence on Israel"

Remarking on Israeli actions, Davutoglu said that incidents in Gaza
could not be indulged.

The Foreign Minister also reminded that Turkey has cancelled a
military exercise previously planned with Israel and stressed that
such war games will not be conducted if such military tensions exist.

Replying to a question, Davutoglu said Turkey did not have an
anti-Semitic stance and that his country did not want policies against
peace in its region.

Meanwhile, Davutoglu said 10 ministers would accompany Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Greece scheduled to
start on May 14 and a joint cabinet meeting would take place between
Turkey and Greece.

Agencies

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