ERDOGAN WILL CONVINCE ALIYEV TO BE SATISFIED WITH ONLY KELBAJAR AND FIZULI: HURRIYET

Tert.am
17.05.10

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to visit Baku later
today to discuss with the Azerbaijani administration the long-awaited
gas deal.

According to the Turkish Daily Hurriyet also on the agenda will be
the issue of the Karabakh settlement with Erdogan to propose that
Armenia return only 2 regions instead of 7 as Azerbaijan insists.

"Prime Minister Erdogan's visit is essential both in terms of the
agreement reached over the gas price and the Karabakh conflict. The
agenda of Erdogan's visit includes the latest proposal over the
Karabakh conflict according to which Azerbaijan will open the border
gate with Armenia, if the Armenians pull out of the 2 regions out of
the 7 adjacent to Karabakh," writes Hurriyet.

"Even if the Baku administration stresses in its statement addressed to
the international community that it will not step back from the '5+2'
resolution, however, the discussions over the 2 regions continue. It is
being mentioned that those 2 regions are Kelbajar and Fizuli. Ankara
closed the border [with Armenia] in 1993 when Armenia took over
Kelbajar. For that reason the issue of [Armenia's withdrawal] from
Kelbajar is essential for Ankara-Yerevan relations.

Should that proposal be accepted, Turkey's expectation over Kelbajar
will fulfill, and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border will open which,
in turn, will facilitate the opening of the [Armenia-Turkey] border
by Ankara," writes the newspaper.