Davutoğlu pledges not to disappoint Azerbaijan

In a bid to win the opposition’s support of the government’s plans to normalize relations with neighboring Armenia, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Tuesday held talks with several political party leaders and reassured them that Turkey’s move to normalize relations with Yerevan would not harm its friendly ties with Baku at all. 
 
Davutoğlu visited main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Masum Türker and Felicity Party (SP) leader Numan Kurtulmuş. The minister had already met with Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Şahin last week. Yet, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli, a strong critic of the plans to restore relations with Armenia, rejected Davutoğlu’s request for a meeting. Under Switzerland’s mediation, Turkey and Armenia announced on Aug. 31 that they had agreed to start internal consultations before signing two protocols on the establishment of diplomatic ties and the development of bilateral relations. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Turkish Press No Comments » September 2009

Azerbaijani-Americans Celebrate The 91st Anniversary of the Lineration of Baku by Joint Turkish-Azerbaijani Forces

Today, Azerbaijanis celebrate the 91st anniversary of an important event in the history of independent Azerbaijani statehood – the liberation of the city of Baku to become the capital of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR), the first secular and democratic establishment in the Muslim and Turkic world.

Upon the proclamation of ADR on May 28, 1918, nation’s largest city Baku was under the control of Bolshevik-led Baku Soviet headed by Stepan Shahumyan. For the two preceding months, the forces of Baku Soviet, allied with irregular armed units of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation “Dashnaktsutiun”, carried out mass killings against Azerbaijanis in Baku, Guba, Shamakhy, Lenkeran and other cities of the country. Under the pretext of fighting against the counterrevolutionary insurgency, onMarch 31 – April 3, 1918, Bolsheviks and their Dashnak allies slaughtered over 12,000 (“New Republics in the Caucasus”, The New York Times Current History, v. 11 no. 2, March 1920, p. 492) Azeri civilians in Baku alone. These tragic events are known as the beginning of Azerbaijani Genocide. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Azerbaijan Press, Internet Sites No Comments » September 2009

Karabakh Peace Process Must Be Fully Inclusive

The dispute over the Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh has festered for more than two decades. One of the keys to finding a peaceful resolution of the conflict is achieving the normalization of relations between the region’s ethnic Armenian and Azeri communities.

In 1992, a mission of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, precursor to the OSCE) headed by then-U.S. Secretary of State James Baker worked out the so-called Baker Rules, which were agreed to by all sides in the conflict. Those rules recognized the two communities of Nagorno-Karabakh as “interested parties,” and Armenia and Azerbaijan as “principal parties.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by admin Posted in: Uncategorized No Comments » September 2009