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Tag: Nagorno-Karabakh

  • Opening of borders is against Azerbaijan’s interests

    Opening of borders is against Azerbaijan’s interests

     
     

    [ 03 Apr 2009 17:23 ]
    Baku. Lachin Sultanova –APA. “Principally, every country has a sovereign right to determine its relationship with any other country, but in this situation, the issue directly concerns Azerbaijan”, said press officer of Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Elkhan Polukhov, commenting reports on Turkey’s intention to open borders with Armenia, APA reports.

    He said Turkish government closed the borders with Armenia in 1993. “The government of Turkey decided in 1993 to close borders with Armenia because of Armenia’s territorial claims against Turkey, occupation of Azerbaijani territories, ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijani people in the occupied territories. The Republic of Azerbaijan appreciated the Turkey’s decision as an act of support and a sign of solidarity with the Azerbaijani people. Azerbaijan always supported the Turkey’s fair demands against Armenia. Turkey’s decision to close borders with Armenia has a principal character because it was a clear message of intolerance to Armenia for its actions. This decision considers political and economic measures to force Armenia to review its policy against Azerbaijan and Turkey and to make well-considered steps in the region”. Polukhov said Armenia was always refusing the constructive proposals of its neighbors. “Armenia is always refusing constructive proposals toward settlement of the conflict and other problems as well, considers the hostile activity possible, and notwithstanding it demands the countries, which are targets of Armenia’s hostile activity, to open borders and to establish economic cooperation. Under the present conditions, reviewing of policy toward Armenia, including changing of decision on closing the borders within the context of non-progress in the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, would have negative impact on the Armenian-Azerbaijani talks over the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict. “Armenia will accept the opening of borders as an act of encouraging of its occupier policy against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan considers that the opening of Turkish-Armenian borders out of the context of settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict is contrary to the national interests of Azerbaijan. This action will have negative impact on the situation in both strategic and tactic plans and will intensify tensions in the region”.

  • Azerbaijanis protest opening of Turkey-Armenia border

    Azerbaijanis protest opening of Turkey-Armenia border

    Baku. Elbrus Seyfullayev, Elnur Mammadli-APA. “The opening of borders between Turkey and Armenia is contrary not only to the interests of Azerbaijan, but also to the interests of Turkey. Nobody in Azerbaijan believes that Turkey can take such step”, Malahat Ibrahimgizi from ruling New Azerbaijan Part (YAP) told APA. According to her, opening of borders between Turkey and Armenia has become a subject of discussions after Adulla Gul’s visit to Yerevan to watch the football match. She noted that Azerbaijan was seriously and justly concerned over this issue: “20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territories are under the occupation. It means that Armenians have occupied not only the territory of Azerbaijan, but also the international law.”

    Non-party deputy Ganira Pashayeva told APA that she was against the opening of borders between Turkey and Armenia before the liberation of Azerbaijani lands from the occupation. “Opening of borders is unacceptable before the solution to Nagorno Karabagh problem”. To her, Turkish Prime Minister has today refuted the information on opening of borders between Turkey and Armenia: “I would like to hope that this refutation would continue till the liberation of Azerbaijan’s lands from occupation”.

    Head of Azerbaijan-Turkey Interparliamentary Friendship Group Nizami Jafarov told APA that the opening of borders between Turkey and Armenia was not convincing. According to the MP, if such case happens the Government of Azerbaijan will protest this issue: “If the borders are opened before the solution to the Nagorno Karabagh conflict the result will not be satisfactory. Turkey has already taken certain steps in this direction, but Armenia has done nothing instead”.

    Chairman of United Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (BAXCP), Deputy Gudrat Hasanguliyev told APA if Turkish community did not protest this issue AKP administration would open the borders with Armenia: “They are seriously preparing for this. If different parties, communities, intellectuals and media of Turkey do demonstrate their strict positions in this issue, the Turkish government will realize their intentions. Turkey established economic relations with Armenia and even there are flights between the two countries, the only issue was to make these ties formal”. Hasanguliyev stated that it was a right step that Azerbaijani President refused to attend the “Alliance of Civilizations” project meeting in Turkey.

    Head of Musavat Party Isa Gambar noted that he did not believe in the opening of borders between Turkey and Armenia: “There is huge and global process today. And there are many players and factors in this process. And each player of this process has its own interests while making decisions. And of course Azerbaijan also has its own interests and the most important interest is to make Armenia refrain from its aggressive policy. At the same time, strategic and friendly relations should further be developed with Turkey”.

    Chairman of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party Ali Karimli noted that Azerbaijan was seriously and justly concerned over the opening of borders between Turkey and Armenia. The Government of Azerbaijan should speak openly in this issue. Today I’ve heard about the first steps in this respect. There should be consecutive policy and the talks should be conducted with Turkish government.

  • Azerbaijan Warns Turkey

    Azerbaijan Warns Turkey

     

     

    https://www.azatutyun.am/a/1602796.html

    By Emil Danielyan

    Turkey will act against the national interests of Azerbaijan if it normalizes relations with Armenia before a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said on Thursday.

    “If the [Turkish-Armenian] border is opened before Armenian troops’ withdrawal from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, that will run counter to Azerbaijan’s national interests,” Mammadyarov told journalists during a visit to Georgia.

    “We have brought this opinion to the notice of the Turkish leadership,” he said in remarks broadcast by the Azerbaijani ANS television and monitored by BBC. “To tell the truth, the Turkish leadership accepts that and says that the [Karabakh peace] talks should continue and that Armenia’s troops should withdraw from the occupied territories. Only on this condition can the border be opened.”

    The warning followed Turkish and Western media reports that Armenia and Turkey are poised to announce an agreement that commits them to gradually establishing full diplomatic relations and reopening their border. Ankara shut down the frontier in 1993, at the height of the war in Karabakh, out of solidarity with Turkic Azerbaijan. A Karabakh settlement acceptable to Baku has been a key Turkish precondition for normalizing relations with Armenia.

    The two neighboring nations embarked on a dramatic rapprochement last summer amid indications that Ankara is ready to stop linking Turkish-Armenian ties to Karabakh. The apparent policy change has prompted serious concern from Azerbaijani politicians and pundits. They believe that an open border with Turkey would ease Armenia’s regional isolation and encourage it to maintain the Karabakh status quo.

    “Hurriyet Daily News” claimed on Thursday that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev has threatened to halt gas supplies to Turkey if Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government cuts a ground-breaking deal with the Armenians. The paper claimed that Aliev made the threat at a meeting with unspecified “third parties” in Baku. It gave no further details.

    Aliev was expected to discuss the matter with the visiting U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza. “Mr. Bryza travels to Azerbaijan Thursday to discuss how a Turkish-Armenian agreement could help revive efforts for a settlement on Nagorno-Karabakh,” reported “The Wall Street Journal.” The paper cited an unnamed senior Turkish official as saying that Washington is trying to facilitate such an agreement.

    According to “The Wall Street Journal” and the Turkish press, Ankara and Yerevan are close to signing a “roadmap” to normalizing bilateral times and setting up inter-governmental commissions dealing with various issues of mutual interest. One of these commissions would reportedly study the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

    The idea of such a study was floated by Erdogan in 2005 and rejected by then Armenian President Robert Kocharian, who considered it a Turkish ploy designed to scuttle worldwide recognition of the massacres as genocide. Kocharian’s successor, Serzh Sarkisian, has indicated that he does not object to the Turkish proposal in principle.

    Press reports have said that the Turkish-Armenian deal could be unveiled during or shortly after U.S. President Barack Obama’s April 6-7 visit to Turkey. Turkish leaders hope that will discourage Obama from honoring his election campaign pledge to recognize the Armenian genocide. They have warned that such a declaration would set back the Turkish-Armenian dialogue.

    Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian dismissed the Turkish warnings during an early March visit to Paris. Diplomatic sources say Nalbandian may again meet his Turkish counterpart, Ali Babacan, early next week on the sidelines of a UN-sponsored international conference in Istanbul. For his part, Babacan is expected to visit Yerevan on April 16 to attend a high-level meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization.

    (Photolur photo: Elmar Mammdyarov.)

  • Azerbaijani FM expresses concern on Turkey-Armenia relations thaw

    Azerbaijani FM expresses concern on Turkey-Armenia relations thaw

    ISTANBUL – Azerbaijan’s foreign minister expressed concern on Thursday at the prospect of the border being opened between Armenia and Turkey.

    “If the border is opened before the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, it would run counter to Azerbaijan’s national interests,” Reuters quoted Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov as telling Azeri ANS television.  

    Ankara and Yerevan have agreed on the major parameters of a historic reconciliation in secret talks to start diplomatic relations and re-open their shared border, which Turkey closed in 1993 after Armenia occupied the Nagorno-Karabakh region, sources told Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review earlier.

    Mamedyarov said Azerbaijan had conveyed its opinion on the issue to Ankara, adding Turkey accepted his country’s concerns. 

  • Outreach to Armenia prompts Azeri threat

    Outreach to Armenia prompts Azeri threat

    by Barçın Yinanç

    ISTANBUL -Concerned that the Turkish government might open its border with Armenia before reconciliation is reached, the Azerbaijani government has signaled it might stop selling natural gas to Turkey.

    Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told third parties that Baku would cut gas supplies to Turkey if Ankara reaches an agreement with Yerevan before substantial progress is underway on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review has learned. As a sign of how serious it is, Azerbaijan signed a memorandum of understanding with Russia last week for long-term supply of gas at market prices.

    Turkey and Armenia have been holding talks to normalize ties, which would involve the establishment of diplomatic relations and the opening of borders. Although Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia in 1991, Ankara has no diplomatic relations with its neighbor. In 1993, Ankara closed its border with Armenia in an act of solidarity with Azerbaijan after Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.

    Turkey and Armenia are said to have come very close to an agreement on the timetable to normalize relations. As April 24 is approaching, the date each year when the United States issues a presidential statement on the World War I mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, expectations are high that Turkey and Armenia will announce an agreement. U.S. President Barack Obama had pledged to recognize the Armenian killings as “genocide” during his election campaign. A joint statement by Turkish and Armenian officials on the normalization of relations might prevent Obama from using the word “genocide.”

    This development in turn has upset the Azerbaijani government, which argues a decision to open Turkey’s borders with Armenia would leave Baku at a disadvantage in negotiating for the withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijani territory. The ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has been the target of severe criticism in the Azerbaijani press with commentators there accusing the Turkish government of selling out. The Turkish Foreign Ministry has been informed that Aliyev has told third parties that were Turkey to open its borders to Armenia, cooperation on energy supplies would end.

    Ankara and Baku have been trying to reach an agreement over the price of natural gas Turkey buys from Azerbaijan through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline. The agreement to buy natural gas for $120 per 1,000 cubic meters for the duration of the first year following the opening of the pipeline has long ended and the two failed to reach an agreement as Azerbaijan wants to sell its gas at international market prices, which is around $350 per 1,000 cubic meters.

    Russia, on the other hand, has been courting Azerbaijan to buy its gas at international market prices in order to undermine the Nabucco project, which aims to bring Central Asian gas to Europe via Turkey. Gazprom and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan last week signed a memorandum of understanding for long-term supplies of Central Asian gas to Russia at market prices, Web site Euractiv.com reported yesterday. According to Gazprom’s press release, the parties committed to massive long-term cooperation after an agreement was reached March 27 to settle the terms of Azerbaijan’s gas sales to Russia.

    Pavel K. Baev, a senior researcher from the Oslo International Research Institute, said the project could make Nabucco irrelevant as Azerbaijan is seen as the most likely gas supplier for Nabucco. The Turkish government is under pressure from the Obama administration to finalize and announce the agreement with Yerevan. Turkey and Armenia have agreed on most of the wording of a protocol for normalization but there are still some points where the two need to agree. The Turkish side wants to insert the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh in the protocol, but the Armenian side has not been compromising on the issue.

  • “California is not Armenia…”

    “California is not Armenia…”

    Our work in line with the tasks set by the leadership is primarily aimed to assist to strengthening of partner relations between Azerbaijan and the United States, said Azerbaijani consul general in Los Angeles Elin Suleymanov, speaking about the work of the consulate.

    pic51246

    He said the negative reaction of some Armenian mass medias on the activity of Azerbaijani diplomats in the United States is surprising.

    Certainly, there are many Armenians residing in California, the influence of the Armenian lobby is felt here but California is not Armenia and the US interest in our region are not limited with narrow ethic views of some representatives of Armenian diaspora. Therefore, our activity in the framework of bilateral US-Azerbaijani relations should not be perceived so painfully”, noted Suleymanov.

    “The US-Azerbaijani partnership includes a wide range of issues including cooperation in spheres of transport of energy sources of the Caspian Sea and international security, creating conditions for intensification of the dialogue of civilizations and fight with different demonstrations of extremism. The United States support Azerbaijan’s efforts in the sphere of regional integration and pragmatic policy of the country leadership for strengthening stability and peace in our region.

    In this background, the ethnocentric and sometimes even racist statements of some radical representatives of Armenian side unfortunately stress the tendencies that continue damaging the future of Armenia”, noted the consul.
    As for the resolution of the Karabakh conflict and the real changes in the attitude to the conflict in the United States, the consul said:

    “I think Washington always understood the importance of the resolution of the conflict for the future of our region, including for the strategic interests of the United States. Practice shows that unsettled conflicts pose a serious threat to regional stability. Therefore, I think the intention to help the resolution is quite sincere, though its too early to judge about the way it will influence the real actions of the co-chairing states”.

    Speaking about the work with Azerbaijani diaspora organizations, in particular from Los Angeles, he said the work with compatriots is the integral part of the activity of the general consulate in Los Angeles.

    “We are glad to observe the recent intensification of the organizations, representing Azerbaijani diaspora in the United States. Moreover, the activeness of Azerbaijani diaspora becomes more effective and large scale.

    I do not consider that we should regard the activity of our diaspora only as confrontation or competitive to Armenian. Interests of US Azerbaijanis are comprehensive in science, culture, regional policy and other issues. For example, the US-Azerbaijani council is actively cooperating with Jewish organizations on interreligious dialogue, while the history of Turkic people was in the center of attention of the scientific conference held by this organization in December of 2008”, noted Suleymanov.

    He said in conclusion that Azerbaijani diaspora also reached significant success in the sphere of organization of academic arrangements.

    “As for the Armenian diaspora, it continues to be one of the organized and numerous ethnic-political groups in the United States, that have influence on politicians on the spots and on the federal level”, said Suleymanov.

    http://www.today.az/news/politics/51246.html