“Armenia is our neighbor. Turkey was one of the first countries recognizing Armenia’s independence after its establishment. However, Armenia occupied the territories of Azerbaijan afterwards.
Turkey regarded it inadmissible and closed its borders with Armenia. Turkey has closed its borders not to cause trouble for Armenian people, but because of happenings against Azerbaijan. Now the government says it has zero problem with the neighbors”, said leader of Turkish Republican People’s Party Deniz Baykal at the party’s meeting, APA reports quoting Hurriyet.
According to Baykal, Armenia does not demonstrate any will to normalize relations with Turkey. “Meetings were held in Switzerland, they said “historic opportunity has been created”. Protocols were signed and they went ahead. But we warned them “do not take such step, you will hurt Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan is much more important than you think it to be, you will legitimize the occupation in Azerbaijan”. We said we would not let the protocols be approved unless the occupation ends. Azerbaijan also demonstrated its strict objection and protest. Further, the Prime Minister visited Azerbaijan and said “We will not open borders unless the occupation ends”. But we have not seen any progress regarding this issue.
Baykal said Turkey-Armenia rapprochement process is in deadlock: “24 April is coming. Turkey will be oppressed again. This government’s “zero problem” policy regarding Armenia is completely fiasco. Nothing has been gained, but much has been lost. We have lost Azerbaijan’s friendship. They said “zero problem”, they failed to settle problems with Armenia, plus they created problem with Azerbaijan”.
APA
