TURKISH ANALYST TO AZERBAIJAN: DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ARMENIA
Armen Hareyan

HULIQ.com
May 5 2010
SC

The worst thing that can happen if Azerbaijan starts aggression
against Armenia is "to underestimate the enemy," said Dr. Burcu
Gultekin Punsmann, a senior foreign-policy analyst at the Turkish
think tank TEPAV.

Dr. Punsmann’s comments are published in today’s Hurriyet, one of the
leading newspapers in Turkey. The background of her comments is the
story, according to which Turkey has prevented and stopped Azerbaijan
for considering a military option to solve the human rights and
self-determination issue with Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

Apparently Azerbaijan considered a military action against Armenia
right before the latter was about tot sign the historical protocols
with Turkey aimed at normalizing relations. The signing of the
protocols took place in Zurich in October of 2009. Foreign ministers
of Russia, France and the United States were also present, showing
their support.

We said apparently because no government organization in Turkey has
released any statement that supports the claim made by one of the
top opposition party newspapers in Azerbaijan. Yeni Musavat made the
claim and Hurriyet published the news as well.

Yeni Musavat writes that Turkey stopped Azerbaijan by hosting a very
high level reception of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic’s Parliament
Speaker Vasif Talibov at the highest level in Turkey.

Turkey and Armenia are guarantor countries for Nakhchivan Autonomous
Republic (in Azerbaijan) and the name of the autonomous republic is
also written in Armenian on the official flag. However, no Armenian
is left in Nakhchivan because of the ethnic cleansing throughout the
past 80 years.

Dr. Punsmann is quoted in Hurriyet saying that while another war in
the region may be devastating for the entire region, Azerbaijan is
the country that benefited the most from the stability in the past
16 years. She also said the worst could happen is the underestimation
of the opposite site.

"Beyond a doubt, Azerbaijan is the country that has benefited the
most from the return of stability to the South Caucasus region in
the second half of the 1990s," Punsmann said. "With the resumption
of war, energy investment projects will stop overnight. There will
be no winner of this war."