"Ankara-Yerevan Rapprochement Strains Turkey's Relations With Azerbaijan
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 68
April 9, 2009 02:13 PM Age: 4 hrs
Category: Eurasia Daily Monitor, Turkey, Home Page, Foreign Policy, Azerbaijan , Armenia
By: Emrullah Uslu
Rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia has been fast tracked as diplomats intensified their work in the past two months on possible ways of addressing the issue (EDM, February 10, March 27). Ankara and Yerevan now appear poised to find a solution to their bilateral problems. However, Azerbaijan's leadership is dissatisfied by the prospect of any rapid improvement in Turkey's relations with Armenia. On April 2 Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said, 'If the border is opened before Armenian troops withdraw from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, it will run counter to Azerbaijan's national interests. We have conveyed this opinion to the Turkish leadership' (Hurriyet Daily News, April 2). Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev played the energy card and warned: 'before finding a way to solve the Karabakh problem, if Turkey cuts a deal with Armenia we could cut off the"
More:Ankara-Yerevan Rapprochement Strains Turkey's Relations With Azerbaijan - The Jamestown Foundation