The Turkish-Armenian talks should become trilateral Armenian-Turkish-Azerbaijani talks, a former Turkish parliamentary speaker has said.
“Turkey continues a reasonable foreign policy. Since the Second World War we have experienced critical moments in history, but we have had no war with Syria, Iraq and Greece. It shows that Turkey is able to live in peace with its neighbours,” the former speaker of the Turkish parliament, Husamettin Cindoruk, has said, according to Turkey's TAKA newspaper website.
Cindoruk said “Ankara was too early in normalizing relations with Armenia”. “Turgut Ozal, Suleyman Demirel or Bulent Ecevit or other historical figures of Turkey never questioned Azerbaijani-Turkish brotherhood. Azerbaijan is of great importance to us, this country is our natural ally. Though [Foreign Minister] Ahmet Davutoglu has told us the same thing, I think that before signing the protocols with Armenia, our government should have discussed this issue in detail with Baku.”
“Armenia is not an independent state and it coordinates all its steps with its supporters, therefore Turkey should have conducted negotiations with Baku on this issue. Unfortunately, the government did not listen to us and the decision of the Constitutional Court of Armenia has made it difficult. Now, I think it is necessary to change the Armenian-Turkish negotiations into trilateral Armenian-Turkish-Azerbaijani negotiations and put the issue of borders and Karabakh to common discussion. It is clear that the Armenians do not want to leave the occupied lands. Ankara should discuss all processes with Baku and find ways out of the prevailing situation”, Cindoruk said.
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