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ANKARA ALLEGEDLY THWARTS ALIYEV ATTACK ON KARABAKH
Asbarez
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
ANKARA-Ankara has neither confirmed nor denied claims that Turkey's
intelligence agency prevented an Azeri military attack ordered by
Azeri president Ilham Aliyev on Nagorno-Karabakh immediately before
Turkey and Armenia signed historic protocols last year, reported the
Turkish daily, Hurriyet.
The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has also not released any
statement concerning the allegations, which were first published in one
of Azerbaijan's most influential opposition newspapers, Yeni Musavat.
The Azeri report appeared on the front page of daily Hurriyet on
Tuesday with a headline that said MIT had thwarted a Karabakh war.
The Turkish government did, however, voice support for dialogue
between the South Caucasus rivals. "We are in favor of the resolution
of problems through dialogue," Foreign Ministry sources told Hurriyet
on Tuesday.
"By averting the Azerbaijani operation, Turkey prevented the
normalization process with Armenia from being undermined and its
own dignity from being harmed. The essence and the secret of the
relationship taking shape between Turkey and Azerbaijan depends on
this matter," the Azeri newspaper wrote.
"Had Azerbaijan begun a military operation during that period, the
Armenian initiative of the [ruling Justice and Development Party]
AKP would have entirely collapsed," Yeni Musavat added. According to
the paper, the alleged military operation took place about one year
before Turkey and Armenia signed deals in October 2009 in Zurich,
Switzerland, to establish diplomatic relations.
The Azeri newspaper also claimed that options for military operations
were reviewed. "The reception of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic's
Parliament Speaker Vasif Talibov at the highest level in Turkey could
be a part of Ankara's plan to stop Azerbaijan," it said.
Turkish diplomatic sources said the high-level welcome of the
Nakhchivan official was only natural because Turkey is a guarantor
country for Nakhchivan's status under Azerbarijani rule according to
a highly contentious 1921 treaty.
Dr. Burcu Gultekin Punsmann, a senior foreign-policy analyst at the
Turkish think tank TEPAV, also declined to comment on the veracity
of the facts.
"I would, however, doubt that [Azeri] President [Ilham] Aliyev could
have seriously considered undertaking such a hazardous action," she
said. "I can't try to assess a military outcome of a new Azeri-Armenian
war over Nagorno-Karabakh; the worst thing in such a situation is
always to underestimate the enemy."
"What I know is that this war would be disastrous for the whole
region," she added, referring to the five-day August 2008 war between
Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia that highlighted the disruptive
potential of renewed conflict anywhere in the South Caucasus.
"Beyond a doubt, Azerbaijan is the country that has benefited the
most from the return of stability to the South Caucasus region in
the second half of the 1990s," Punsmann said. "With the resumption
of war, energy investment projects will stop overnight. There will
be no winner of this war."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Asbarez
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
ANKARA-Ankara has neither confirmed nor denied claims that Turkey's
intelligence agency prevented an Azeri military attack ordered by
Azeri president Ilham Aliyev on Nagorno-Karabakh immediately before
Turkey and Armenia signed historic protocols last year, reported the
Turkish daily, Hurriyet.
The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has also not released any
statement concerning the allegations, which were first published in one
of Azerbaijan's most influential opposition newspapers, Yeni Musavat.
The Azeri report appeared on the front page of daily Hurriyet on
Tuesday with a headline that said MIT had thwarted a Karabakh war.
The Turkish government did, however, voice support for dialogue
between the South Caucasus rivals. "We are in favor of the resolution
of problems through dialogue," Foreign Ministry sources told Hurriyet
on Tuesday.
"By averting the Azerbaijani operation, Turkey prevented the
normalization process with Armenia from being undermined and its
own dignity from being harmed. The essence and the secret of the
relationship taking shape between Turkey and Azerbaijan depends on
this matter," the Azeri newspaper wrote.
"Had Azerbaijan begun a military operation during that period, the
Armenian initiative of the [ruling Justice and Development Party]
AKP would have entirely collapsed," Yeni Musavat added. According to
the paper, the alleged military operation took place about one year
before Turkey and Armenia signed deals in October 2009 in Zurich,
Switzerland, to establish diplomatic relations.
The Azeri newspaper also claimed that options for military operations
were reviewed. "The reception of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic's
Parliament Speaker Vasif Talibov at the highest level in Turkey could
be a part of Ankara's plan to stop Azerbaijan," it said.
Turkish diplomatic sources said the high-level welcome of the
Nakhchivan official was only natural because Turkey is a guarantor
country for Nakhchivan's status under Azerbarijani rule according to
a highly contentious 1921 treaty.
Dr. Burcu Gultekin Punsmann, a senior foreign-policy analyst at the
Turkish think tank TEPAV, also declined to comment on the veracity
of the facts.
"I would, however, doubt that [Azeri] President [Ilham] Aliyev could
have seriously considered undertaking such a hazardous action," she
said. "I can't try to assess a military outcome of a new Azeri-Armenian
war over Nagorno-Karabakh; the worst thing in such a situation is
always to underestimate the enemy."
"What I know is that this war would be disastrous for the whole
region," she added, referring to the five-day August 2008 war between
Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia that highlighted the disruptive
potential of renewed conflict anywhere in the South Caucasus.
"Beyond a doubt, Azerbaijan is the country that has benefited the
most from the return of stability to the South Caucasus region in
the second half of the 1990s," Punsmann said. "With the resumption
of war, energy investment projects will stop overnight. There will
be no winner of this war."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress