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  • BAKU: Azerbaijani Opposition Urges Turkey To Be Sensitive With Regar

    AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION URGES TURKEY TO BE SENSITIVE WITH REGARD TO OPENING BORDERS WITH ARMENIA

    Trend
    March 17 2009
    Azerbaijan

    Azerbaijani opposition urged Turkey to be sensible with regard to
    opening borders with Armenia.

    "Though Turkey's current government deals a blow to our certain
    interests by its decisions, we must not lose this country. We must
    maintain high level relations," chairman of opposition Azerbaijan
    Democratic Party Sardar Jalaloglu said.

    Armenian-Turkish ties have been severed since 1993 because of
    Armenia's false "genocide" claims and occupation of 20% of Azerbaijani
    lands. Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan on September 6,
    2008 at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisyan to
    watch Armenia-Turkey football match within the European Cup. Efforts
    have been made since then to normalize ties between the two countries.

    Jalaloglu said Turkey's Prime Minister announced some time ago that
    changes in their policy regarding Armenia have been coordinated with
    the Azerbaijani government.

    "Secondly, Turkey has its own top-priority interests and it must
    ensure them. Third, I think policy of Armenia's blockade is not
    effective any more," the ADP chairman said.

    He said Azerbaijan's blockade on Armenia did not enable the country
    to participate in trans-regional projects. "This process is already
    over. There are no projects any more not to enable Armenia to
    participate in it," Jalaloglu said.

    Jalaloglu said about 3 million Armenians in Turkey keep contact
    with Armenia via different means. "Turkey's decision to open borders
    would mean to formalize the mechanism which operated unofficially so
    far. Unfortunately, Turkey must have taken into consideration that the
    Karabakh problem remains unresolved while taking this step. If Turkish
    authorities say they have taken this step taking into consideration
    state's interests, we can not say something," he said.

    The right-wing ADP was founded by Sardar Jalaloglu in1991. The party
    had been occupying a radical position against the authorities by
    January 2007 when it took a new political course to dialogue with
    the authorities. Rasul Guliyev, the former chairman of the party,
    and his supporters separated from the party protesting against its
    new political course and founded their new Open Society Party.

    "Azerbaijan must provide a serious reaction to Turkey's opening
    borders with Armenia," opposition Umid party chairman and member of
    parliament Igbal Agazade told Trend News.

    He said Turkey and Azerbaijan took a joint action for a long time to
    prevent recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide. "They have
    shared the same position in implementation of some transnational
    projects. They could make concessions towards each-other. Azerbaijan
    undertook more responsibility in last years," he said.

    Agazade said the chief goal of Azerbaijan's participation in these
    processes was to prevent opening of Turkey-Armenia borders. "If
    Turkey changes priorities, it should give an explanation to
    Azerbaijan. Because changing years-old policy can cause problems,"
    he added.

    He said opening of Turkey-Armenia borders can mark beginning of
    new policy in the South Caucasus. "Both Azerbaijani government and
    opposition must hold discussions with Turkish authorities on this
    situation," Agazade said.

    The oppositional Umid Party was founded in 1993. The Civil Solidarity
    Party (CSP) joined it in 2002. The former chairman of CSP Igbal
    Agazade was elected chairman of Umid Party. Agazade is also MP of
    the Azerbaijani parliament.
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