One day after Turkey signed a deal the U.S. helped salvage to end a century of enmity with Armenia, Turkey's leader set a tough condition for normalizing ties on Sunday: Armenia must withdraw from the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The statement appeared to be an effort by Turkey to appease its close ally Azerbaijan, which said the new agreement will aggravate the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Nagorno-Karabakh is an Armenian-occupied enclave in Azerbaijan.
On Sunday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the agreement to establish diplomatic ties with Armenia and reopen their border. He called such steps with a former bitter foe an "important step" that would lead to cooperation and dialogue.
However, Erdogan said the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute must be resolved to enable Turkey to take steps to normalize ties and for the deal to be approved by parliament. To take effect, the agreements must be ratified by the Turkish and Armenian parliaments, but the accord faces stiff opposition in both countries.
"We want all conflicts to be resolved and we want all borders to be opened at the same time," Erdogan said. "(But) as long as Armenia does not withdraw from occupied territories in Azerbaijan, Turkey cannot take up a positive position."
"If problems between Azerbaijan and Armenia are resolved the public would more easily accept Turkish-Armenian relations. Approval in the Turkish National Assembly would be so much easier," he said.
Armenian army continues military exercises in occupied territories [ 12 Oct 2009 15:05 ]
Aghdam. Teymur Zahidoglu – APA. Armenian army continues military exercises in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, APA’s Karabakh bureau reports. The shots of artillery and armoured vehicle have been heard near Aghdam and Shahbulag Mountain since morning.
Armenians began military exercises in the occupied areas of Aghdam on October 9.
An Azerbaijani soldier has been killed in fighting with Armenian forces near the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, news agencies reported Saturday.
The Trend and ANS Press agencies reported that the soldier was killed Friday in fighting in Azerbaijan's Aghdam region, on the de facto border with Karabakh. Officials with Azerbaijan's defense ministry could not be reached to confirm the reports.
Tensions over Karabakh have heightened in recent weeks amid efforts by Armenia and Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, to establish diplomatic ties and reopen their border after decades of hostility.
Azerbaijan fears the efforts will lead Ankara to soften its longstanding support for Baku in the dispute.
Backed by Yerevan, ethnic Armenian forces seized control of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s, in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives. The struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated after both Armenia and Azerbaijan attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
BAKU, Azerbaijan --President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan says his nation may use military force if talks with Armenia on resolving a long-standing territorial dispute produce no result.
Aliyev says he plans talks next week with his Armenian counterpart, Serge Sarkisian, on resolving the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The mountainous region is a part of Azerbaijan that has been under control of Armenian troops and ethnic Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended six years of war.
Diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute have failed.
Aliyev warned Saturday that if the meeting fails to achieve results, Azerbaijan could use military force. He said that Azerbaijan wants a peaceful settlement, but won't wait indefinitely.
There was no immediate comment from Armenia's government.
Now it is time when we must speak about “yes” or “no” to resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Negotiations can deliberately be protracted a month, or three, but no more. I think there is every reason to believe that in the first quarter of next year there will be an answer to the question of whether the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be settled under international law or not.
Q: What Azerbaijan can decide if Armenia says “no” to resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under international law?
A: At least, Azerbaijan will be forced to embark on an arms race, in which Armenia has no chance to compete with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan will put more diplomatic pressure on Armenia in all international areas. In particular, Azerbaijan can once again raise the issue of unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and presence of Armenian armed forces in the occupied territories to the UN Security Council.
I do not want to say that if Armenia says “no” to resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under international law, a war will ensue. Because, some diplomatic failures in the settlement of the conflict have not led to beginning of hostilities. In the meanwhile, the current breakdown of negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh caused by Armenia will be significantly different as Azerbaijan’s current position has became much stronger.
BAKU -- Three Azerbaijani soldiers were killed today after exchanging fire with Armenian armed forces near the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.
Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry confirmed the deaths and said another soldier was wounded as a result of the shooting, which is a violation of a ceasefire agreement between the two forces.
The ministry did not say exactly where the fighting between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces took place. A ministry spokesman said the Armenian side also suffered casualties.
News agencies reported earlier today that Armenian forces shelled Azerbaijani positions in the Agdam, Terter, and Goranboy districts. Najmeddin Sadikhov, the chief of Staff of Azerbaijan's Armed Forces, told the ANS TV station that Azerbaijan's army responded to the shelling.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six-year war over Nagorno-Karabakh that ended in 1994 with Armenian forces in control of the disputed territory and seven other Azerbaijani districts.
March 01, 2010 (Hamsayeh.Net) - Azerbaijani officials have once again threatened to launch a military offensive to liberate the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabagh located between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan yesterday warned that the threat of a great war was looming if Armenian forces do not withdraw from the region.
The enclave located inside Azerbaijan has mostly Armenians living in the area. In 1991 ethnic Armenians with support from Yerevan clashed with Azerbaijan in a war that took the lives of an estimated 30,000 people before a ceasefire in 1994. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia claim the region as part of their own territory.
Yesterday, an Azeri Defense Ministry statement read, ‘Diplomats could not achieve concrete results for 15 years, and Azerbaijan cannot wait another 15 years. Now it is up to the military, and this danger is gradually approaching. If the Armenian occupier does not liberate our lands, the start of a great war in the South Caucasus is inevitable.’
Azerbaijan a country that possesses large hydrocarbon reserves from Caspian basin plans to join the proposed Nabucco gas pipeline, but tensions with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh have caused delays in the project. Azerbaijan’s strategic ally Turkey also wants Yerevan to pull its forces from the region before opening the border with Armenia. The presence of US and NATO forces in the neighbouring Georgia also adds fuel to the fire.
BAKU (News.az)—A Russian military analyst is predicting that a new war in the South Caucasus between Armenia and Azerbaijan has become inevitable because of the rapprochement between Armenia and Turkey.
Speaking to the Armenian service of Radio Free Europe, Pavel Felgenhauer described the threat of war as real and dangerous and added that Azerbaijan would go to any length to prevent the ratification of agreements between Armenia and Turkey to normalize relations—including war.. ‘Today there is a real threat of a destabilization of the situation,’ he said, adding that he believed the desire to avert war no longer exists for Azerbaijan.
“Azerbaijan will take this step even if the resumption of hostilities was not in its favor,” he explained. “The aim of the step is not to return Karabakh but to prevent ratification of the Armenian-Turkish protocols.”
Source: http://tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?post=113986 
