Turkish Forum

Category: Asia and Pacific

  • Azerbaijani-Turkish-American Foundation set up in Washington

    Azerbaijani-Turkish-American Foundation set up in Washington

    Baku. Nijat Mustafayev – APA-ECONOMICS. Azerbaijani-Turkish-American Foundation (ATAF) has been established with support from Ahmet Erentok, chairman of Azerbaijan Turkey Business Association (ATIB).
    ATIB’s International Projects Advisor Louette Ragusa was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of ATAF that is based in Washington.
    ATAF’s main objective is to coordinate lobbying activities of Azerbaijani and Turkish companies in the U.S., and provide them with legal and consulting services in market penetration.
    The US companies aspiring to do business in the region will also benefit from these services after a cooperation agreement is signed between ATIB and ATAF.

  • Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers begin meeting in Moscow

    Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers begin meeting in Moscow

     

     
     

    [ 31 Oct 2008 19:53 ]
    Baku. Lachin Sultanova–APA. Foreign ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia Sergei Lavrov, Elmar Mammadyarov and Edward Nalbandyan have started their meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in Moscow.

    The ministers will make announcement for the journalists after the meeting, diplomatic sources told APA.
    On Saturday the ministers will hold consultations with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Yuriy Merzlyakov (Russia), Bernard Fassier (France) and Matthew Bryza (USA) and special representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.
    The meetings have a character of preparation for the negotiations between the presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia Dmitriy Medvedev, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan on November 2 in Moscow on the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

  • Georgia, Russia: Moscow’s Troop Checkmate

    Georgia, Russia: Moscow’s Troop Checkmate

    Stratfor.com

    Summary

    Russia has ratified treaties with the Georgian breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia that will see 3,800 Russian troops stationed in the two territories. The decision puts the Georgian military in checkmate, and it sends a clear message to the West as Russia consolidates control of its periphery.

    Analysis

    The Russian Duma ratified treaties with Abkhazia and South Ossetia on Oct. 29 that provide for the stationing of 3,800 troops in both Georgian breakaway provinces. The deployment places Russian troops in key strategic positions, giving Moscow decisive control over the two regions and the ability to put Georgia at permanent risk.

    The troops will be stationed at Russian bases. In South Ossetia, they will be located in Tskhinvali and Java, and in Abkhazia they will be stationed in Gudauta (a former Russian base) and Ochamchira. These bases are situated on strategic supply lines that run from Russia to the heart of Georgian territory.

    From its position in South Ossetia, which juts halfway into the heart of Georgia, Russia will have rapid access to Georgia’s main transportation corridors and the strategic city of Gori. Russian proximity means Moscow can shut down the main road and rail routes through the country at will. The occupation of Gori and the transit corridor would isolate the Georgian capital of Tbilisi from ports on the Black Sea as well as from any meaningful transportation route to Turkey and Armenia, as Russia demonstrated briefly during the Russian-Georgian war. Gori also straddles Georgia’s three major pipelines, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Supsa oil pipeline and the Shah Deniz natural gas pipeline. All three ship Azerbaijani energy resources to world markets via Georgia.

    Russian logistical links in South Ossetia are entirely reliant on the vulnerable two-lane Roki Tunnel, but from Abkhazia, the Russians have a direct line of transport on the railway along the Black Sea. From here, Russian troops are poised to again sever Georgian connections to the outside world, this time from its Black Sea ports and from Western-oriented Turkey.

    The Russian military is the undisputed power in the region. The Georgian military by contrast is small, weak and underprepared for substantial action. With a total of 7,600 Russian troops stationed on former Georgian territory (about 2,400 fewer than were used during the 2008 invasion), there is little the Georgian military can do to counter Russia. In short, Moscow is poised to permanently station a combined military force that is every bit as large as the active-duty Georgian ground forces, which number around 7,000 and are largely conscripted. Georgia’s small navy and air force (each numbering under 1,500) are supplemented by a comparably sized national guard and some 11,000 border guards and Interior Ministry troops. Although the U.S. military has actively trained the Georgian military over the past four years, Tbilisi is ill-trained and ill-equipped to stave off military aggression from even one of the 3,800-strong Russian contingents ­ much less move offe nsively against both of them.

    With this treaty, Russia effectively has finished positioning enough forces in key locations to crush the Georgian military should the need arise. These troops will suffice to deter or block Georgian maneuvers at a moment’s notice in the near term.

    But the decision to fully occupy South Ossetia is more than just a way to control Georgia. Russia has now made sure that no amount of Western financial aid or rhetorical support will be able to alter the military reality on the ground for Georgia. This is a well-crafted message, both to the West and to neighbors like Ukraine that are flirting with notions of aligning with the West, that Russia is not to be messed with ­ especially not on its periphery.

  • Western Mediators To Join Armenian-Azeri Summit In Moscow

    Western Mediators To Join Armenian-Azeri Summit In Moscow

     

     

     

     

     

    By Ruben Meloyan

    U.S. and French mediators will travel to Moscow ahead of Sunday’s meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents hosted by Russia, Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian announced on Thursday.

    Nalbandian said he and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov will meet the American, French as well as Russian diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group in the Russian capital on Saturday. He said the co-chairs could also meet Presidents Ilham Aliev and Serzh Sarkisian after their trilateral meeting with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev.

    Medvedev has initiated the Armenian-Azerbaijani summit amid renewed international hopes for a near-term solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Russian president and other officials have expressed hope that Aliev and Sarkisian will bridge their remaining differences on a framework peace accord proposed by the Minsk Group.

    The Russian initiative has fuelled talk of Moscow seeking to sideline the West in the Karabakh peace process as part of its efforts to boost its influence in the South Caucasus after the recent war with Georgia.

    However, the initiative was welcomed by the United States on Wednesday. “We are pleased by this initiative that Moscow is undertaking. We hope that the initiative succeeds. We are monitoring it very closely,” U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

    “We hope that the meeting of the presidents will give yet another serious impetus to the acceleration of the negotiations,” Nalbandian said for his part. He said the success of the Moscow talks depends on whether Azerbaijan will embrace mutual compromise. The Armenian side is ready to make its share of the concessions, he said.

    “We can find a settlement with Azerbaijan,” Nalbandian told a news conference. “That will be possible if Azerbaijan expresses political will and opts for an appropriate settlement, instead of taking disruptive steps in various international organizations and making parallel statements.”

    Sarkisian said at the weekend that the Karabakh dispute can be resolved only if Azerbaijan recognizes the Karabakh Armenians’ “right to self-determination.” But Aliev insisted on Friday that Baku will never accept Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan.

    Nalbandian also dismissed opposition claims that Sarkisian is re-orienting Armenia’s foreign policy towards the West in hopes of securing U.S. and European support for his rule. “If somebody notices some change in our relations with Russia, I can assure them that that change can only reinforce, expand and deepen our strategic and allied relations with Russia, “ he said.

  • Foreign Minister Nalbandian visits London

    Foreign Minister Nalbandian visits London

    On October 27 Edward Nalbandian started his visit to the United Kingdom.

    Edward Nalbandian and Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom David Miliband discussed a broad range of bilateral, regional and international issues.

    Turning to bilateral relations, Minister Nalabndian said Armenia attaches great importance to the development of comprehensive and all-embracing relations with Great Britain – one of the leading countries of Europe, and his visit is an evidence of Armenia’s determination.

    Minister Nalbandian said the Armenian-British political dialogue and the trade-economic relations have a great potential for development, and the activation of the Armenian-British relations in the above-mentioned sphere is one of the primary issues of cooperation between the two countries.

    Minister Nalbandian and Foreign Secretary Miliband discussed in detail the settlement of regional conflicts. In this context Minister Nalbandian presented Armenia’s stance on the resolution of the Artsakh issue. He expressed hope that the parties can reach the resolution of the issue in case there is corresponding political will.

    At the request of David Miliband, Edward Nalbandian presented the opportunities of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations, underlining that the aim of the process is their full normalization and Armenia is resolute to continue the steps in this direction. The British Foreign Secretary highly assessed Armenia’s steps targeted at the improvement of relations with Turkey.

    Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and British Minister of State for Europe Caroline Flint discussed the Armenia-European Union cooperation, particularly the process of implementation of the Action Plan of the European Neighborhood Policy, the bilateral cooperation between Armenia and Great Britain within the framework of the ENP. Ministers Nalbandian and Flint turned to regional issues, especially the perspectives of normalization of relations, as well as the activation of bilateral relations.

    Minister Nalbandian visited the House of Lords, where he met with members of the Armenian-British Friendship Group. The meeting was attended by representatives of the main political parties of the United Kingdom – the Laborites, the Conservatives and the Liberals, as well as other parties.

    On the same day, Minister Nalbandian visited Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), where he made a speech on “Regional Security in the Caucasus – an Armenian Perspective”. Political analysts, representatives of research centres and universities, diplomats accredited to London, representatives of UK official bodies, journalists attended the meeting. After the speech Edward Nalbandian answered to the number of questions on Armenia’s foreign policy.

    Afterwards Armenian Foreign Minister left for the Headquarter of BBC Radio – World Service and thus became the first high-ranking Armenian official who visited BBC Headquarters. Edward Nalbandian gave an interview to the correspondents of BBC World Service.

    Edward Nalbandian’s next meeting was with the representatives of UK’s Armenian community in Great Britain. In the course of the meeting which lasted more that two hours Edward Nalbandian presented the main directions and priorities of Armenian foreign policy, perspectives of the settlement of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) issue, the steps undertaken by the Government for the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations. Speaking on Armenia-Diaspora relations Minister Nalbandian said to the representatives of British Armenian community that Armenian authorities seek to cooperate with the Diaspora to a definitely new level and establishment of the Ministry of Diaspora is one of the steps towards that goal. Edward Nalbandian answered a lot of questions of British Armenian Community’s concern.

    The last meeting of Armenian Foreign Minister was with Sir Brian Fall, Special Representative of the United Kingdom for  the South Caucasus. Minister Nalbandian and Ambassador Fall had a detailed discussion on the steps aimed at development of bilateral relation in different areas, recent regional developments and perspectives of settlement of the conflicts.
    On October 28 Minister Nalbandian concluded his visit to UK and returned to Yerevan.     

  • Aide to Turkish Prime Minister: We are waiting for Armenians with open arms

    Aide to Turkish Prime Minister: We are waiting for Armenians with open arms

    Ankara – APA. “We are not enemies with Armenians and do not regard them as threat. We want to establish all possible best relations with Armenia. We want to establish good relations with all Armenians in the world, no matter where they live in Los Angeles or in Paris. We expect them to support the process, not impede it. We are waiting for Armenians with open arms,” Ahmet Davutoglu, the chief foreign policy aide to Turkey’s Prime Minister said in his interview to Hurriyet newspaper. Taking a stance on Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s interview to BBC Turkish service Ahmet Davutoglu said they were ready to solve all the problems with Armenia. Asked about Azerbaijan’s concerns the aide said:
    “Improvement of our bilateral relations will have influence on the Nagorno Karabakh issue,” he said.

    Edward Nalbandian said in his interview to BBC Turkish service that there was no obstacle in normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations.
    “First we expect diplomatic relations to be established and borders to be opened. We want intergovernmental commission to be set up to discuss all the problems between the two sides,” he said.