Gov’t to speed up moves in Caucasus
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Fulya Özerkan
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 05, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - Turkey's new Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu meets in Ankara with Azerbaijan’s deputy foreign minister in the first official meeting since the former took office after the Cabinet reshuffle. It is to be followed by the prime minister's tour of Azerbaijan and Russia next week
While exerting efforts to thaw ties with Baku after Turkey’s recent rapprochement with Armenia, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will embark on a tour of Azerbaijan and Russia next week in an attempt to speed up negotiations over the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
Erdoğan will fly to Baku on May 13, for a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and then travel to Russia on May 16, for talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Sochi, diplomatic sources confirmed.
Yesterday Turkey's new foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, met with Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov in Ankara, marking the first official talks since the former took office over the weekend in the wake of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s, major Cabinet reshuffle.
"This visit was not coincidental," said a senior Turkish diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity with the Hürriyet Daily News. Ankara has long requested a meeting with the Azerbaijani side to discuss bilateral and regional issues, he added.
The agreement of neighboring Turkey and Armenia on a "framework" to normalize their bilateral ties received cold shoulders from Baku, which opposes the opening of the Turkish border with Yerevan before a settlement to the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani territory occupied by Armenian troops.
"We are in constant contact with the Azerbaijanis. There has never been a cut in the flow of information from Turkey to Azerbaijan," said Turkish diplomatic sources.
But it is no secret that Baku is concerned over the recent developments to normalize ties with Armenia, with the Azerbaijani government signaling it might go even further to stop selling natural gas to Turkey in protest if the latter opens its border before substantial progress is made in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
Energy was one of the issues discussed at the meeting with the visiting Azerbaijani official. Diplomatic sources declined to provide details, saying that energy is a sensitive area. Turkey is expected to participate in an energy summit in Prague next week, but it is not yet clear at what level it will be represented.
Russia favors swift solution
The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute will appear on the agenda of Erdoğan-Aliyev and Erdoğan-Putin meetings.
"The objective of all the parties concerned is to accelerate the negotiations for a solution," said a Russian diplomat, who requested anonymity. "A solution to this problem is not an easy one but Russia is expending efforts to help reach a solution," he added.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan during that country's conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. With France and the United States, Russia is one of the co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group, which is mandated to act as an intermediary to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Erdoğan will fly to Baku on May 13, for a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and then travel to Russia on May 16, for talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Sochi, diplomatic sources confirmed.
Yesterday Turkey's new foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, met with Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov in Ankara, marking the first official talks since the former took office over the weekend in the wake of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s, major Cabinet reshuffle.
"This visit was not coincidental," said a senior Turkish diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity with the Hürriyet Daily News. Ankara has long requested a meeting with the Azerbaijani side to discuss bilateral and regional issues, he added.
The agreement of neighboring Turkey and Armenia on a "framework" to normalize their bilateral ties received cold shoulders from Baku, which opposes the opening of the Turkish border with Yerevan before a settlement to the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani territory occupied by Armenian troops.
"We are in constant contact with the Azerbaijanis. There has never been a cut in the flow of information from Turkey to Azerbaijan," said Turkish diplomatic sources.
But it is no secret that Baku is concerned over the recent developments to normalize ties with Armenia, with the Azerbaijani government signaling it might go even further to stop selling natural gas to Turkey in protest if the latter opens its border before substantial progress is made in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
Energy was one of the issues discussed at the meeting with the visiting Azerbaijani official. Diplomatic sources declined to provide details, saying that energy is a sensitive area. Turkey is expected to participate in an energy summit in Prague next week, but it is not yet clear at what level it will be represented.
Russia favors swift solution
The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute will appear on the agenda of Erdoğan-Aliyev and Erdoğan-Putin meetings.
"The objective of all the parties concerned is to accelerate the negotiations for a solution," said a Russian diplomat, who requested anonymity. "A solution to this problem is not an easy one but Russia is expending efforts to help reach a solution," he added.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan during that country's conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. With France and the United States, Russia is one of the co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group, which is mandated to act as an intermediary to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.