While the Armenian government and the official propaganda are repeating the “absence of pre-conditions in the protocols” yesterday the President of Turkey and the foreign affairs minister made a statement on the possibility of linking the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations with the NKR conflict resolution. But this time the statement was said in a “better” manner. “An open border with Turkey would only strengthen the Armenians economically and thereby discourage them from seeking a solution to the Karabakh conflict,” stated President Gul and added, “The fact that a country is occupying the territory of another country is unacceptable. As long as the conflict exists in the Caucasus there can be no peace and security in the region.” By emphasizing that the NKR and nearby 7 areas had been occupied for 18 years now Gul said that due to the Armenia-Turkey relations this issue once again appeared in the center of attention of the international community. Gul said that there is some progress in this connection but he did not go into details. At the same time, he stated that Turkey and Azerbaijan are one nation and two countries and the Ankara-Baku relations are developing normally. He also said words of appreciation addressed to the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group. “Let us remember how the co-chairs of the Minsk Group would visit the region as tourists but now they are seriously engaged. With the normalization of the Armenia-Turkey relations we reached the point that the NKR conflict resolution has become a priority for the international community. So we will probably see a serious progress in the conflict resolution in the near future,” said Gul during his interview dedicated to Armenian-Turkish relations. It means that day by day Turkey even more strengthens its position as a mediator in the NKR conflict resolution. And this is the worst development for Armenia even if those developments actually didn’t relate to the NKR conflict resolution. Indeed, there is no need to doubt that for example Edward Sharmazanov or someone else from the government would demonstrate this statement as an evident attitude of normalizing Armenia-Turkey relations without preconditions. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that his government will continue to unequivocally support Azerbaijan in the bitter dispute with Armenia. “Azeri soil is as sacred for us as our own and liberating this soil from occupation is one of our primary national issues,” Davutoglu told reporters yesterday. "Even if the skies fall down, Turkey’s position will not change… Our policy on ending the occupation… will continue until the problem is resolved," he said, according to AFP.
