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FROZEN CONFLICTS IN CAUCASUS ARE MAIN PROBLEM FOR CREATION OF CAUCASUS STABILITY - AHMET DAVUTOGLU
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
July 18 2013
18 July 2013, 13:45 (GMT+05:00)
The establishment of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking states
was the initiative of Turkey and Azerbaijan. The countries could
expand the partnership in Central Asia, by creating a trilateral
format of cooperation, for example, on the basis of Azerbaijan-
Turkey-Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan-Turkey-Turkmenistan, Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview with Trend news agency.
"Turkey aims to strengthen the relations with all regions - whether
the Middle East, or the Caucasus or the Central Asia," Davutoglu said.
"Ankara's objective is to intensify the diplomatic and economic
relations, as well as to expand the cultural relations with these
regions," he stressed. "These are the main goals, but their realization
in each region has its own difficulties and peculiarities."
"For instance, the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform was
established in the Caucasus at Turkey's initiative in 2008.The purpose
of the platform is to create unity among the Caucasian countries.
However, the desired results have not obtained in this issue.
"The frozen conflicts in the Caucasus are the main problem in the
creation of the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform. First of
all, this is the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia, and the
issue of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the Southern Caucasus. These
problems pose obstacles to the full cooperation in the Caucasus.
"That's why, Turkey intends to maximally expand the cooperation
in possible directions of cooperation such as the trilateral and
bilateral cooperation in the Caucasus," he said.
"A striking example of the trilateral cooperation is the cooperation
between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia through such energy and
transportation projects as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline,
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.
Moreover, Turkey is successfully expanding cooperation with Azerbaijan
and this is an important example of bilateral cooperation," Davutoglu
said.
"The relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey are based on fraternal
relations and "One nation - two states" slogan which are unique in
the world," he said.
"Moreover, the Georgian-Turkish cooperation can be cited as an
example of successful bilateral cooperation in the Caucasus. Ankara
and Tbilisi have agreed not only to abolish visas, but refused to
show passports when crossing the border."
"Turkey has no problems with any neighbor in the Caucasus except
Armenia," Davutoglu emphasized. "The problems between Turkey and
Armenia are primarily connected with the occupation of Azerbaijani
lands. We hope that Armenia will abandon its wrong policy and cease
occupying Azerbaijani lands. Only in this case, it will be possible
to normalize the relations with Yerevan."
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. -
are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.
Turkey's accession to the EU
Davutoglu said that at present the EU has no reason to reject Turkey's
membership bid,
"Turkey has undertaken important reforms for the EU accession,"
he said. "The Turkish economy is one of the rapidly developing and
strongest in the world today. The Turkish economy is stronger than
the economy of some European countries taken together. The same can
be said about the democratic reforms in Turkey. Thus, the EU has no
reason to reject Turkey's membership."
According to Davutoglu, Turkey's accession to the EU requires a desire
of both sides, not only Ankara's. "It might seem that there are all
opportunities for Turkey's accession to the EU, but Turkey actually
faces the EU-created barrier."
"First of all, this barrier is connected with the Cypriot issue,"
he said. "There are some countries, which try to prevent Turkey to
join the EU, using the Cypriot issue, as well as pointing out the
cultural difference as a reason. Spread of Islamophobia in Europe is
one of the reasons of Turkey's failure to become an EU full member."
"But despite all EU-created barriers, Turkey is determined to continue
the policy of joining the EU and will never give up this policy,"
Davutoglu said.
"At present, the EU shows its indecisiveness," he said. "One day,
when the EU understands Turkey's importance, Ankara will have an
opportunity to join the EU."
"While intensifying the partnership with other international
organizations and associations, Turkey is not looking for an
alternative to the EU," he said. "The policy of rapprochement with
any region or an organization does not mean Turkey's alienation from
the EU."
"Even if Turkey becomes an EU full member, the cooperation with the
Central Asian region will remain one of the priorities for Turkey's
foreign policy," Davutoglu said.
The official negotiations on Turkey's accession to the EU started in
2005. The parties have not commenced considering any new technical
item for the last three years. At present, Turkey was able to finish
the negotiations only on one of the items.
Situation in Egypt
Egypt's military coup at the beginning of the month is not a solution
to the country's problems, on the contrary, it will bring more
confusion into the country, Davutoglu said.
"After the elections were held in Egypt and Mohamed Morsi was elected
president, Turkey supported him," he said.
"Turkey would support anyone who would have been elected in Egypt,
because we support people's will, rather than a certain person,"
he said. "Only democratically elected political leader is entitled
to represent people."
"Turkey has done much to normalize the situation in the countries that
have suffered from the revolutions," he said. "Around $2 billion were
allocated only to Egypt."
"Egypt is an important country, because the situation will not
stabilize in the entire region without establishing stability in
Egypt," Davutoglu added.
Clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi
have been continuing after the Egyptian military suspended the
constitution of Egypt and ousted Morsi from power on July 3.
Egyptian Islamists do not recognize these decisions and demand the
legally elected president to return to power.
On July 10 Egypt's Prosecutor General's Office issued a decree to
arrest the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. "As for Syria,
the situation there is even more complicated, as the death toll in
Syria exceeds 100,000 people," Davutoglu said.
"Many victims of the Syrian events were killed as a result of air
strikes," he said. "Everybody knows that all this was committed by
the Syrian regime as the Syrian opposition does not have such weapons."
"Initially, the Syrian opposition held peaceful demonstrations without
violence," he said. "The opposition demanded to hold the democratic
elections and to conduct reforms, but the Syrian regime did not meet
the people's requirements."
"There are about 500,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey today," Davutoglu
added. "Turkey has allocated $1.5 billion to the refugees."
The clashes between the government forces and armed opposition
have been continuing in Syria for over two years. According to UN
statistics, the total number of victims of the conflict in Syria is
more than 100,000 people. The Syrian authorities say they are opposed
by well-armed militants.
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
July 18 2013
18 July 2013, 13:45 (GMT+05:00)
The establishment of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking states
was the initiative of Turkey and Azerbaijan. The countries could
expand the partnership in Central Asia, by creating a trilateral
format of cooperation, for example, on the basis of Azerbaijan-
Turkey-Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan-Turkey-Turkmenistan, Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview with Trend news agency.
"Turkey aims to strengthen the relations with all regions - whether
the Middle East, or the Caucasus or the Central Asia," Davutoglu said.
"Ankara's objective is to intensify the diplomatic and economic
relations, as well as to expand the cultural relations with these
regions," he stressed. "These are the main goals, but their realization
in each region has its own difficulties and peculiarities."
"For instance, the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform was
established in the Caucasus at Turkey's initiative in 2008.The purpose
of the platform is to create unity among the Caucasian countries.
However, the desired results have not obtained in this issue.
"The frozen conflicts in the Caucasus are the main problem in the
creation of the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform. First of
all, this is the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia, and the
issue of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the Southern Caucasus. These
problems pose obstacles to the full cooperation in the Caucasus.
"That's why, Turkey intends to maximally expand the cooperation
in possible directions of cooperation such as the trilateral and
bilateral cooperation in the Caucasus," he said.
"A striking example of the trilateral cooperation is the cooperation
between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia through such energy and
transportation projects as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline,
Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.
Moreover, Turkey is successfully expanding cooperation with Azerbaijan
and this is an important example of bilateral cooperation," Davutoglu
said.
"The relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey are based on fraternal
relations and "One nation - two states" slogan which are unique in
the world," he said.
"Moreover, the Georgian-Turkish cooperation can be cited as an
example of successful bilateral cooperation in the Caucasus. Ankara
and Tbilisi have agreed not only to abolish visas, but refused to
show passports when crossing the border."
"Turkey has no problems with any neighbor in the Caucasus except
Armenia," Davutoglu emphasized. "The problems between Turkey and
Armenia are primarily connected with the occupation of Azerbaijani
lands. We hope that Armenia will abandon its wrong policy and cease
occupying Azerbaijani lands. Only in this case, it will be possible
to normalize the relations with Yerevan."
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. -
are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.
Turkey's accession to the EU
Davutoglu said that at present the EU has no reason to reject Turkey's
membership bid,
"Turkey has undertaken important reforms for the EU accession,"
he said. "The Turkish economy is one of the rapidly developing and
strongest in the world today. The Turkish economy is stronger than
the economy of some European countries taken together. The same can
be said about the democratic reforms in Turkey. Thus, the EU has no
reason to reject Turkey's membership."
According to Davutoglu, Turkey's accession to the EU requires a desire
of both sides, not only Ankara's. "It might seem that there are all
opportunities for Turkey's accession to the EU, but Turkey actually
faces the EU-created barrier."
"First of all, this barrier is connected with the Cypriot issue,"
he said. "There are some countries, which try to prevent Turkey to
join the EU, using the Cypriot issue, as well as pointing out the
cultural difference as a reason. Spread of Islamophobia in Europe is
one of the reasons of Turkey's failure to become an EU full member."
"But despite all EU-created barriers, Turkey is determined to continue
the policy of joining the EU and will never give up this policy,"
Davutoglu said.
"At present, the EU shows its indecisiveness," he said. "One day,
when the EU understands Turkey's importance, Ankara will have an
opportunity to join the EU."
"While intensifying the partnership with other international
organizations and associations, Turkey is not looking for an
alternative to the EU," he said. "The policy of rapprochement with
any region or an organization does not mean Turkey's alienation from
the EU."
"Even if Turkey becomes an EU full member, the cooperation with the
Central Asian region will remain one of the priorities for Turkey's
foreign policy," Davutoglu said.
The official negotiations on Turkey's accession to the EU started in
2005. The parties have not commenced considering any new technical
item for the last three years. At present, Turkey was able to finish
the negotiations only on one of the items.
Situation in Egypt
Egypt's military coup at the beginning of the month is not a solution
to the country's problems, on the contrary, it will bring more
confusion into the country, Davutoglu said.
"After the elections were held in Egypt and Mohamed Morsi was elected
president, Turkey supported him," he said.
"Turkey would support anyone who would have been elected in Egypt,
because we support people's will, rather than a certain person,"
he said. "Only democratically elected political leader is entitled
to represent people."
"Turkey has done much to normalize the situation in the countries that
have suffered from the revolutions," he said. "Around $2 billion were
allocated only to Egypt."
"Egypt is an important country, because the situation will not
stabilize in the entire region without establishing stability in
Egypt," Davutoglu added.
Clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi
have been continuing after the Egyptian military suspended the
constitution of Egypt and ousted Morsi from power on July 3.
Egyptian Islamists do not recognize these decisions and demand the
legally elected president to return to power.
On July 10 Egypt's Prosecutor General's Office issued a decree to
arrest the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. "As for Syria,
the situation there is even more complicated, as the death toll in
Syria exceeds 100,000 people," Davutoglu said.
"Many victims of the Syrian events were killed as a result of air
strikes," he said. "Everybody knows that all this was committed by
the Syrian regime as the Syrian opposition does not have such weapons."
"Initially, the Syrian opposition held peaceful demonstrations without
violence," he said. "The opposition demanded to hold the democratic
elections and to conduct reforms, but the Syrian regime did not meet
the people's requirements."
"There are about 500,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey today," Davutoglu
added. "Turkey has allocated $1.5 billion to the refugees."
The clashes between the government forces and armed opposition
have been continuing in Syria for over two years. According to UN
statistics, the total number of victims of the conflict in Syria is
more than 100,000 people. The Syrian authorities say they are opposed
by well-armed militants.