Today’s Zaman, Turkey
November 13, 2013 Saturday 8:16 AM EST
‘Nagorno-Karabakh is Turkey’s problem too,’ says Erdoðan
ÝSTANBUL: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan has reiterated Ankara’s
commitment to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Azerbaijan
and Armenia, saying that ‘Karabakh is not just Azerbaijan’s problem,
but also Turkey’s problem.’
Speaking at a joint press conference with Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev on Wednesday, Erdoðan noted that Turkey’s unconditional support
for Azerbaijan continues and described current bilateral relations as
‘excellent.’ For his part, Aliyev said that Azerbaijan has full trust
in Turkey when it comes to the case of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed enclave between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory in early 1990s,
including Nagorno-Karabakh, primarily populated by Armenians, and
seven adjacent provinces. Diplomatic efforts to find an enduring
solution to the conflict have failed for the past 20 years but
Azerbaijan vows to get its territories back by force, if necessary.
Turkey closed its borders with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
Azerbaijan. The issue of Armenia’s withdrawal from the area
surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh is of importance to Ankara, which has
frequently signaled that this step would ease the way for the
reopening of the border with Armenia.
Erdoðan’s remarks came after a Turkey-Azerbaijan High-Level Strategic
Cooperation Council meeting at the Prime Ministry in Ankara.
Aliyev said Azerbaijan is very pleased to see that Turkey is becoming
stronger, adding that no initiative could be taken in the region
without Turkey’s approval and added that Baku knows that Turkey will
continue to stand by Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. ‘We
are sure that Turkey will always stand with us on the issue of
Nagorno-Karabakh,’ said Aliyev.
The conflict remains unresolved and has the potential to destabilize
the region. It also hampers any attempts at normalization between
Turkey and Armenia, two estranged neighbors that are at odds not only
because of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, but also because of Armenian
claims of genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of
the last century.
Two protocols signed between Turkey and Armenia to normalize relations
and reopen the closed border were not implemented given opposition
from Azerbaijan. Speaking about the mutual goal of the two states,
Erdoðan stated that there is increasing growth in the political,
military, cultural and economic developments between two countries.
‘In economic terms, it [trade volume] is $4.2 billion, and this will
continue to grow. Now, our target is $15 billion. By 2020, the trade
volume between Turkey and Azerbaijan will reach $15 billion. We have
opportunities to make joint investments in natural gas in the Balkans.
We will make plans for this. The relevant ministers from the two
countries, particularly the foreign ministers, had fruitful talks on
what could be done,’ said Erdoðan.
Erdoðan also noted that Turkey and Azerbaijan could take joint steps
in the field of defense, saying that the two states would do whatever
is necessary as part of the responsibility of being ‘one nation, two
states.’
Visa issue to be solved soon, says Aliyev
The Azerbaijani president also added that both countries had made
important progress in eliminating visa requirements and that
businessmen and academics will be the first to benefit from a new visa
deal.
‘Each country has its own policy on visas. Academics, businessmen and
those who have close contact with Azerbaijan will benefit from the
removal of a visa requirement. In the coming days, this issue will be
resolved between the two countries, and after that there will be no
need for questions on this issue,’ said Aliyev.
Aliyev emphasized that important projects such as the Trans-Anatolian
Pipeline (TANAP) have been agreed by the governments of Azerbaijan and
Turkey. He noted that TANAP will change the energy map of Europe.
TANAP, which is expected to be completed in 2018, is projected to have
a capacity of around 16 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
Ankara says around 6 billion cubic meters will be consumed by Turkey,
while the rest will be sent to Europe.
Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement in June
2012 on the TANAP project. In December 2011, Azerbaijan and Turkey
signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a consortium to
build a gas pipeline to supply gas from the Shah Deniz field to Europe
through Turkish territory.
According to Azerbaijani media outlets, Kenan Yavuz, the CEO of the
State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), recently stated that
Azerbaijan will become Turkey’s largest energy investor with the
commissioning of the Star refinery next year.
Turkey and Azerbaijan underlined solidarity as regional allies and
reviewed energy cooperation as the presidents of the two countries sat
down for talks during Aliyev’s visit, his first trip abroad since he
was re-elected to his post for a third time last month. President
Abdullah Gül also said on Tuesday that Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity is a ‘national issue’ for Turkey.
‘We reviewed big economic projects, [cooperation in the fields of]
gas, energy and transportation. We also discussed the issue of
Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and the liberation of Azerbaijan’s
occupied territories, which is a national issue for Azerbaijan and
which we also view as a national issue,’ Gül told the press
conference. ‘I believe this [liberation of Azerbaijani territories]
will be realized eventually,’ Gül also said, adding that such a
resolution to the long-standing conflict should come through
diplomacy.
Further underlining the close ties, Aliyev was awarded the Order of
the Republic (Cumhuriyet Niþaný) by Gül for his outstanding success in
strengthening bilateral ties between Turkey and Azerbaijan. Aliyev
also conferred Azerbaijan’s ‘Haydar Aliyev Order of the Republic’ on
Gül.
Gül and Aliyev also visited the facilities of Turkish Aerospace
Industries (TAI) later in the day and watched demonstrations of the
training aircraft HÜRKUÞ and the ATAK/T129 Attack and Tactical
Reconnaissance Helicopter, both designed and manufactured by TAI, from
the flight tower at TAI’s facilities.
Presidential elections took place in Azerbaijan on Oct. 9 of this
year, and Aliyev was re-elected to serve for the next five years. This
is Aliyev’s third term as president.