TOP TURKISH OFFICIAL BLAMES ILL-WISHERS FOR ATTEMPTS TO TARNISH AZERI TIES
AzerNews Weekly
Feb 18 2009
Azerbaijan
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek has moved to bring clarity
to some media reports claiming Ankara was failing to take a tough
stance against Armenia over its many-year-long policy of occupation
against Azerbaijan.
"Turkey has always backed Azerbaijan`s fair position. Those who think
otherwise are trying to cast a shadow on the relations between the
two countries," Cicek told the Baku-based ATV channel.
Radio Liberty`s Armenia service reported that Turkey had backed down
from its demand put forward to Armenia on pulling out from the occupied
Azerbaijani territories for the sake of normalizing its relations
with Yerevan. It said Ankara merely insists on establishing a joint
commission of historians to study the 1915 developments in Ottoman
Turkey that Armenia claims amounted to "genocide."
Cicek said such reports were provocative and were being spread
among the public by outside forces in pursuit of certain goals. Such
information, he added, should not be trusted altogether.
We recall that Burak Ozugergin, the spokesman for the Turkish
Foreign Ministry, has failed to clarify the issue in his recent
statement. The statement, which was released through the Turkish
embassy in Azerbaijan, said it would be wrong to comment on the
matter. He only indicated that the talks underway between Turkey
and Armenia targeted normalizing relations between the two countries
and that Turkey`s aspiration was to restore peace and cooperation in
the Caucasus.
Armenia and Turkey have been at odds and the border between the two
countries has been closed since 1993 on Ankara`s insistence due to
Armenia`s policy of occupation of Azerbaijani territory and Armenian
genocide claims. Yerevan is failing both to end occupation and to
relinquish its territorial claims against Turkey, as well as continues
propagating the alleged genocide all over the world.