RATIFICATION OF PROTOCOLS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT

news.az
May 18 2010
Azerbaijan

Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
responded to journalists questions upon completion of the meeting
with the Azerbaijani side.

A news conference of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish
Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan was held upon an extended meeting on
May 17, according to AzerTaj.

Answering the question from ANS correspondent about the further
ratification of protocols between Turkey and Armenia and the
possibility of their ratification without a serious breakthrough in
the Karabakh conflict settlement, Erdogan said:

"The agreements signed in Switzerland, which we call the process
of normalization between Turkey and Armenia, have been "frozen" by
Armenia. Meanwhile, this is the parliament that is dealing with this
issue in Turkey. However, we have a clear formulation regarding the
protocol on the process of normalization that has been transferred
to our parliament. We have said that the Grand National Assembly of
Turkey cannot pass a positive decision without the resolution of the
Karabakh conflict and settlement of issues of the regions, as well
as the problem against Armenia and Azerbaijan. This was said clearly
and in open.

We have spoken about it and explained this to all the three Minsk
Group co-chairs. They must be more active in this direction and
explain the importance of this issue to Armenia. For this purpose,
we have included the Madrid issue into the agenda. We have included
other issues on the agenda too. But we do not see a more sensitive
approach of Armenia to this issue. As is known, despite 4 months have
passed since the Sochi meeting, there is no progress at all.

Answering the correspondent of the Azerbaijani television about
possible extension of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway to Nakhchivan
and Turkey’s position on this issue, Erdogan said:

"As was planned, we will continue this work. Let no one worry about
it. Our main task is to settle this problem of Nakhchivan. As you know,
on June 17 we will launch air transportation and our foreign ministers
will attend the opening ceremony, inshallah. The Turkish Airlines
will operate flights from Istanbul to Nakhchivan thrice a week.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress