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Q&A With Recep Tayyip Erdogan

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  • Q&A With Recep Tayyip Erdogan

    Q&A WITH RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN

    WSJ
    OCTOBER 6, 2009, 5:36 P.M. ET

    These are edited excepts of a transcript of an interview with Turkey
    Prime Minist Recep Tayyip Erdogan, conducted through a translator on
    Sunday, Oct. 3.

    Q: Are you confident that the protocol on reopening the border with
    Armenia will be signed on Saturday and is it contingent on progress
    on the ANgorno Karabakh issue at the meeting between the Armenian
    and Azerbaijani presidents on Saturday?

    Thank you for the question I'm very glad you asked this question. Our
    foreign minister is going to sign this agreement with the Armenian
    foreign minister [Edward] Nalbandian on Oct. 10, if there is no
    negative development on the part of the Armenians from today until
    the 10th of October, I don't see any problem with signing of this
    agreement, because as the world has known and will see again we always
    stick to our promises. So, so long as there is no change to the text,
    we are ready as it is now to sign the agreement.

    We'd also like to see the Minsk group [an international grouping
    that oversees peace talks on Nagorno Karabakh] witness the signing
    of this agreement actually -- and if the French don't come perhaps
    the Americans or the Russians will come. And in addition to that the
    meeting in Moldova is very important because although the Armenians
    sometimes say this agreement has nothing to do with the Azeris,
    there is i n fact a relationship. Because most recently, I believe
    when president Sargsyan was on an international visit, he was faced
    by a reaction from the Armenian diaspora. So what he does in face of
    the reaction of the diaspora is very important. If he can stand firm,
    and if it is the government of Armenia and not the Armenian dasipora
    that is determining policy in Armenia, then I think that we can move
    forward. As far as we're concerned there is no problem. But it is up
    to the government in Armenia.

    As for the parliament ... of course as is the case in any democratic
    country, in any democratic parliament, what governements do is they
    prepare a draft, they send it to the parliament, and there is a secret
    ballot on that and everyone will vote in the way they want to vote, and
    there is no way one can control that. This in fact happened a few years
    back on the first of march -- what we call the parliamentary motion of
    the first of march -- where the government prepared a motion, sent it
    to the parliament, but it was not ratified, it did not get a majority
    of votes in the parliament and could not be passed. I became prime
    minister after that parliamentary motion was sent to the parliament,
    this was back in 2003, when we presented a new draft, this was about
    troops into Iraq. At the time the second draft....got the necessary
    votes in parliament, but our American friends and our brothe rs in
    Iraq did not want to have troops cross into Iraq by the time the
    second motion passed, so the second draft was not put into practice. ..

    What is important and I would like to underline this, because this is
    perhaps the most impotant point is that Armenia should not allow its
    policies to be taken hostage by the Armenian diaspora. It should be
    up to the government to carry out its policies. And in that context
    the moldova meeting is very important on NK, because if you look at
    Nagorno Karabakh and where it stands today there arn't in fact too
    many more issues left to be resolved. There are out of seven regions,
    5 that have been resolved and two, Lachin and Kelbajar to be exact,
    where there is an issue with the size. If those issues can be resolved
    there could be a positive result. So all in all there is in fact a move
    for the better. But we have taken our positive steps. We have been
    taking pos steps for some time. For example we have allowed flights
    between Yerevan and Istanbul, cargo flights are free to travel. And we
    have abvout 40000 Armenians who live in turkey, who came from Armenia,
    who do not have the necessary legal papers. We do not send them back,
    we allow them to stay.

    So all of these are important messages actually...

    Q: so is signature on the 10th of October contingent on progress at
    the meeting in Moldova?

    The agreement will be signed on the 10th. It doesn't have anything to
    do with what happens in Moldova. But of course a positive development
    in moldova will definitely have a positive impact on the process
    altogether.
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