POLITICS
Today`s Zaman: “Baku calls for Turkish support to settle Karabakh conflict”
Baku, March 4 (AZERTAC). Azerbaijan is hoping for more than just support from Turkey to change what is being called an “unacceptable status quo” in order to make significant progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh talks, as the conflict has already dragged on for many years.
“Armenia might display a constructive position only after it recognizes that Turkey will never leave Azerbaijan alone in the region. Only after recognizing Turkish-Azerbaijan solidarity in the region, Armenia might show a real understanding of a peaceful settlement at the negotiating table”, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Elman Abdullayev said in an exclusive interview with Sunday`s Zaman.
“If the status quo continues, war with Armenia is inevitable,” said Ali Hasanov, an Azerbaijani politician who is also the national adviser to the president of Azerbaijan in Ankara. He says Azerbaijan will never give up its territories, referring to Nagorno-Karabakh. Speaking to the state-owned Anatolia News Agency, Hasanov noted that if Armenia insists on continuing the status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh and does not make any clear effort to resolve the problem, Azerbaijan will have to think about other options. “We are in the process of strengthening our army and economy.”
Commenting on the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement process that started with the soccer diplomacy back in 2009 and ended in stalemate after Azerbaijan resisted the efforts at normalization between Ankara and Yerevan, Abdullayev said that any gesture from Turkey to Armenia adversely affects the peace talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, pointing out that Turkey is doing its utmost to positively change the status quo, but unfortunately, the way it is doing it hampers the whole negotiation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan.