"Turkey cannot afford "to lose Azerbaijan for the sake of relations with Armenia," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutolgu told at "Turkey’s policy in the modern world" conference in Istanbul.
Speaking of the fate of the Armenia-Turkey Protocols, Davutoglu said: "In fact, the contacts between Turkey and Armenia began in 2005 when the Turkish government declared its openness to the world and policy of "zero problems with Armenia." But Armenia has set before us the conditions: to open the border and establish diplomatic relations, and establish direct and indirect relations between Turkey and Armenia," he said.
"Armenians believe that normalization of relations is conditioned by the border opening and diplomatic relations, while we have great experience in such issues. For example, Turkey made great efforts to achieve success in reconciliation between Syria and Israel. However, when it seemed that the issue was to be solved, events in the Gaza Strip took place and all returned to the starting point. The border opening will not bring about changes. There are a number of issues to be solved in this regard. Should we close the border again if anything happens on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border? In this event, all prospects for establishment of relations and conflict resolution will fail in the long term future," Davutoglu said.
"We cannot afford to lose Azerbaijan for the sake of relations with Armenia. We asked the Armenian President, I have repeatedly offered my Armenian counterpart Nalbandian to return one or two regions of Nagorno-Karabakh, for example, Fizuli or Aghdam to Baku as a gesture to save Azerbaijan’s face. In this case, Azerbaijan would also be ready to open its border, but Armenia refused," Davutoglu said.
Speaking of the fate of the Armenia-Turkey Protocols, Davutoglu said: "In fact, the contacts between Turkey and Armenia began in 2005 when the Turkish government declared its openness to the world and policy of "zero problems with Armenia." But Armenia has set before us the conditions: to open the border and establish diplomatic relations, and establish direct and indirect relations between Turkey and Armenia," he said.
"Armenians believe that normalization of relations is conditioned by the border opening and diplomatic relations, while we have great experience in such issues. For example, Turkey made great efforts to achieve success in reconciliation between Syria and Israel. However, when it seemed that the issue was to be solved, events in the Gaza Strip took place and all returned to the starting point. The border opening will not bring about changes. There are a number of issues to be solved in this regard. Should we close the border again if anything happens on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border? In this event, all prospects for establishment of relations and conflict resolution will fail in the long term future," Davutoglu said.
"We cannot afford to lose Azerbaijan for the sake of relations with Armenia. We asked the Armenian President, I have repeatedly offered my Armenian counterpart Nalbandian to return one or two regions of Nagorno-Karabakh, for example, Fizuli or Aghdam to Baku as a gesture to save Azerbaijan’s face. In this case, Azerbaijan would also be ready to open its border, but Armenia refused," Davutoglu said.
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