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NEWS ANALYSIS: AS AZERBAIJAN INFLUENCE GROWS, TURKEY SUPPORTS KEY REGIONAL PARTNER
Xinhua General News Service, China
November 13, 2013 Wednesday 5:10 AM EST
ANKARA Nov. 13
In his first overseas trip since his third-term election victory,
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev is in Turkey to boost the already
close ties between the two nations which share culture and language
to a great extent.
Aliyev was received by Turkish President Abdullah Gul on his two-day
official visit to the country and was awarded with the State Medal of
Honor, the highest state decoration in Turkey. In response, Gul was
also given the highest Azeri medal of honor, the Haydar Aliyev Award.
Aliyev is scheduled to hold an intergovernmental conference, dubbed
as Turkey-Azerbaijan High Level Strategic Cooperation Council, on
Wednesday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"I am sure this meeting will establish a strong base for developing
Turkish-Azeri ties," Hayati Yazici, Turkey's minister of customs and
trade, said.
Trade between the two countries was 2.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2012,
an increase of 21 percent compared with a year earlier. In the first
nine months of 2013, the volume reached 2.5 billion U.S. dollars,
an increase of 19 percent compared with the same period last year.
Turkey and Azerbaijan have maintained close economic and political
ties. Turkey is a major client of Azeri gas and oil, importing the
resources through two major pipelines.
"For us, Turkey is our closest nation and ally. This alliance has
come to a new phase in recent years. Political, financial and energy
relations are strengthening our ties," the Azeri president said.
Gul also lauded the joint projects, saying: "We want to add new
success stories to our relations by completing the Baku-Tbilisi-
Kars railway project and the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline."
Hasan Kanbolat, the head of the Ankara-based Center for Middle
Eastern Strategic Studies, said: "These days, cooperation between
Ankara and Baku is (focused on) the areas of defense industry, energy
and transportation," adding that in the past cooperation was defined
mainly by the "literature of brotherhood."
Kanbolat said that the intergovernmental meeting will focus on defense
and security issues, with Ankara supporting security and stability
for Baku.
"Ankara is not isolating Baku when it comes to issues surrounding
the region of Nagorno-Karabakh," he added, signaling that Turkey may
open its borders with Armenia in exchange for Armenia's departure
from the two regions it has occupied in Azerbaijan.
Aliyev said in Ankara that Turkey is on the side of Azerbaijan and
justice when it comes to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Turkish media reported on Tuesday that Turkey has requested
Switzerland's support to help overcome conflicts between Armenia and
Azerbaijan to open the way for Ankara to repair ties with Armenia.
According to a report published by mass-daily Zaman, Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu told Swiss officials during a visit to Switzerland
in mid-October that Turkey is ready to normalize its relations with
Armenia.
Davutoglu was clear, however, that Armenia should end the occupation
of the Azerbaijani territories.
Turkey closed its borders with Armenia after Armenian-backed armed
forces occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous, predominantly
Armenian-populated enclave within the Azerbaijani borders, in 1993.
In 2009, Turkey and Armenia signed a protocol to normalize ties but
the process was halted due to failure of these documents in their
national parliaments.
The Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe has been trying to solve the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict for
21 years, with little success.
"Without a resolution to territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and
Armenia, I do not think Turkey will mend the fences with Armenia,"
Mesut Cevikalp, a foreign policy expert, told Xinhua.
"Azerbaijan will soon be the number one energy investor in Turkey
and there is favorable trade going on for Turkey concerning bilateral
business. Ankara cannot risk this by antagonizing Azerbaijan," he said.
"It is obvious that Azerbaijan, a country that develops day by day and
that maintains an effective role in energy politics, is following an
impressive way to promote itself in the world," Mahmet Fatih Ozarsu,
expert on Caucasian politics, said.
Ozarsu called the new tactic by Azerbaijan leadership to promote
Azeri interest as its "new style politics."
Xinhua General News Service, China
November 13, 2013 Wednesday 5:10 AM EST
ANKARA Nov. 13
In his first overseas trip since his third-term election victory,
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev is in Turkey to boost the already
close ties between the two nations which share culture and language
to a great extent.
Aliyev was received by Turkish President Abdullah Gul on his two-day
official visit to the country and was awarded with the State Medal of
Honor, the highest state decoration in Turkey. In response, Gul was
also given the highest Azeri medal of honor, the Haydar Aliyev Award.
Aliyev is scheduled to hold an intergovernmental conference, dubbed
as Turkey-Azerbaijan High Level Strategic Cooperation Council, on
Wednesday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"I am sure this meeting will establish a strong base for developing
Turkish-Azeri ties," Hayati Yazici, Turkey's minister of customs and
trade, said.
Trade between the two countries was 2.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2012,
an increase of 21 percent compared with a year earlier. In the first
nine months of 2013, the volume reached 2.5 billion U.S. dollars,
an increase of 19 percent compared with the same period last year.
Turkey and Azerbaijan have maintained close economic and political
ties. Turkey is a major client of Azeri gas and oil, importing the
resources through two major pipelines.
"For us, Turkey is our closest nation and ally. This alliance has
come to a new phase in recent years. Political, financial and energy
relations are strengthening our ties," the Azeri president said.
Gul also lauded the joint projects, saying: "We want to add new
success stories to our relations by completing the Baku-Tbilisi-
Kars railway project and the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline."
Hasan Kanbolat, the head of the Ankara-based Center for Middle
Eastern Strategic Studies, said: "These days, cooperation between
Ankara and Baku is (focused on) the areas of defense industry, energy
and transportation," adding that in the past cooperation was defined
mainly by the "literature of brotherhood."
Kanbolat said that the intergovernmental meeting will focus on defense
and security issues, with Ankara supporting security and stability
for Baku.
"Ankara is not isolating Baku when it comes to issues surrounding
the region of Nagorno-Karabakh," he added, signaling that Turkey may
open its borders with Armenia in exchange for Armenia's departure
from the two regions it has occupied in Azerbaijan.
Aliyev said in Ankara that Turkey is on the side of Azerbaijan and
justice when it comes to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Turkish media reported on Tuesday that Turkey has requested
Switzerland's support to help overcome conflicts between Armenia and
Azerbaijan to open the way for Ankara to repair ties with Armenia.
According to a report published by mass-daily Zaman, Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu told Swiss officials during a visit to Switzerland
in mid-October that Turkey is ready to normalize its relations with
Armenia.
Davutoglu was clear, however, that Armenia should end the occupation
of the Azerbaijani territories.
Turkey closed its borders with Armenia after Armenian-backed armed
forces occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous, predominantly
Armenian-populated enclave within the Azerbaijani borders, in 1993.
In 2009, Turkey and Armenia signed a protocol to normalize ties but
the process was halted due to failure of these documents in their
national parliaments.
The Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe has been trying to solve the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict for
21 years, with little success.
"Without a resolution to territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and
Armenia, I do not think Turkey will mend the fences with Armenia,"
Mesut Cevikalp, a foreign policy expert, told Xinhua.
"Azerbaijan will soon be the number one energy investor in Turkey
and there is favorable trade going on for Turkey concerning bilateral
business. Ankara cannot risk this by antagonizing Azerbaijan," he said.
"It is obvious that Azerbaijan, a country that develops day by day and
that maintains an effective role in energy politics, is following an
impressive way to promote itself in the world," Mahmet Fatih Ozarsu,
expert on Caucasian politics, said.
Ozarsu called the new tactic by Azerbaijan leadership to promote
Azeri interest as its "new style politics."