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  • BAKU: Azerbaijani MP: Turkey Will Get No Benefit From Trade Ties Wit

    AZERBAIJANI MP: TURKEY WILL GET NO BENEFIT FROM TRADE TIES WITH POOR ARMENIA

    Today
    http://www.today.az/news/politics/6 0778.html
    Feb 3 2010
    Azerbaijan

    Day.Az interview with member of Azerbaijani Milli Majlis (parliament)
    Gultakin Hajibayli.

    In your opinion, once the United States and Europe want to see thaw
    in Turkey-Armenia relations, why them not to do it by resolving the
    Nagorno-Karabakh conflict given that Turkey has linked these two
    processes with each other?

    If the U.S. and Europe had a political will in relation to the Karabakh
    conflict, the matter would have long been resolved. Today there
    are a number of legal prerequisites for resolving the territorial
    dispute. These include a number of resolutions by the UN Security
    Council (the latter was adopted in 2008) and PACE (2005).

    The world powers just lack a political will get these decisions
    implemented. Unfortunately, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are more
    interested in clarifying the relationship between themselves, rather
    than to facilitate the settlement of the conflict.

    Though Turkey has announced on many occasions it will not open borders
    with Armenia until there is significant progress in the Karabakh
    problem, the United States and Europe still put pressure on it to
    ensure that Ankara does not connect these two issues.

    It is worth noting that the West is interested in expanding Turkey's
    influence in our region, because it wishes to extend its influence
    in the region through Turkey. In the meantime, the U.S. and Europe do
    not want an open confrontation with Moscow which has its own interests
    in the Caucasus.

    Thus, it turns out that the issues of restoring Azerbaijan's
    territorial integrity and return of refugees to their native lands
    are not being solved because of the geopolitical struggle between
    various forces in our region.

    Some experts believe that Turkey may establish diplomatic relations
    with Armenia without opening the border between the two states. What
    is your view on this issue?

    Given that Turkey has stated many times that it considers Azerbaijan's
    interests as its own, such scenario of events are unlikely to happen.

    If Turkey establishes diplomatic relations with Yerevan, it will
    cause great damage to relations with Azerbaijan.

    It should be understood that the closure of the Armenian-Turkish border
    is more political than economic in nature, because Turkey will get no
    benefit from trade relations with poor Armenia. If the border opens,
    it will look like some kind of political rehabilitation for Turkey.

    Given these factors, as well as Ankara's repeated statements that
    the rapprochement with Armenia is completely dependent on progress
    in settlement of the Karabakh conflict, I think that probability
    of establishing diplomatic relations between Ankara and Yerevan are
    equal to zero.

    What is the current balance of powers in the PACE (including committees
    and subcommittees) in terms of the Karabakh issue?

    There is enough forces in the Council of Europe who realize that the
    double standards with regard to the principle of territorial integrity
    of States is equal to playing with fire. Violation of this principle
    would be reshape of Europe and disintegration of the EU. PACE has
    a clear understanding of this and therefore supports territorial
    integrity of countries such as Azerbaijan and Georgia.

    Another thing is that the support to Azerbaijan's territorial integrity
    is less enthusiastic than to that of Georgia. But this fact did not
    prevent adoption of PACE Resolution No. 1416, which fully supports
    Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. This suggests that Europe does
    not recognize the situation that appeared as a result of aggression
    describing the regime in Nagorno-Karabakh as separatist.

    So, we can say that the CE has a clear position on settlement of the
    Karabakh conflict.

    During the latest PACE hearings on the property rights of refugees and
    internally displaced persons, my report on Azerbaijan was listened
    to with great interest and understanding. However, Armenia's report
    which accused Azerbaijan of all "earthly sins" was met with sarcasm.

    This again shows that despite the fact that Azerbaijan has started to
    work actively with Europe on the Karabakh issue later than Armenia,
    its position is becoming stronger. Although a number of forces still
    support Armenia's view on the Karabakh conflict in PACE, majority
    of forces still adhere to common sense and understanding of the
    fundamental principle of territorial integrity of States.
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