AZERBAIJAN: Azeris protest against peace deal between ally Turkey and rival Armenia

Record ID: 217917

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Azeris protest against peace deal between ally Turkey and rival Armenia
  • Date: 14th October 2009
  • Summary: PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET SIGN ADVERTISING TURKISH KEBA (SOUNDBITE) (Azeri) YOUNG MAN SAYING: "Turkey is saying that they are doing it to join the European Union and to achieve peace in Karabakh. But regarding the relation with Azerbaijan I think they are wrong." (SOUNDBITE) (Russian AZERI WOMAN SAYING: "I can not believe that Turkey would do anything against Azerbaijan
  • Embargoed: 29th October 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAASTWWRMUPXMRAMJGKM9XTKRP7
  • Story Text: A group of Azeri men and women took to the street on Tuesday (October 13) to show their anger at Turkey for restoring relations with their rival Armenia.
    The demonstrators, members of the action group 'Free Karabakh', shouted 'Shame on Turkey' and 'Turkey Traitor' as they marched. Azerbaijan's government also opposes last Sunday's landmark signing between Turkey and Armenia, but that did not stop police from quickly stopping the action and arresting the protesters.
    Azerbaijan's main newspapers also slammed the peace deal, saying traditional ally Turkey should not have signed the agreement while Armenia has troops in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
    Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said the deal could threaten security in the region and "cast a shadow" over its relations with Ankara.
    Turkey cut ties and shut its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan, which was then fighting a losing battle against Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh.
    Officially Turkey has tried to reassure its ally, Azerbaijan, and said last Sunday that Armenia must withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan to assure Ankara's parliamentary approval for normalising relations between Turkey and Armenia.
    But most people in Azerbaijan remain sceptical of Turkey's intentions and feel let down by the country they regard as their sister state.
    "Turkey is saying that they are doing it to join the European Union and to achieve peace in Karabakh. But regarding the relation with Azerbaijan I think they are wrong," one young man said.
    "I cannot believe that Turkey would do anything against Azerbaijan, I simply cannot believe it," said a woman in Baku.
    "The Turks say we are one nation, there are two states, but we are brothers. Their Prime Minister Erdogan says they can only open the borders under one circumstance and that is a solution for the Karabakh conflict. Now it seems these were all just words," another resident of Baku said.
    Violence erupted in the mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave located within Azerbaijan's internationally recognised borders, in the late 1980s as the Soviet Union headed towards its 1991 collapse.
    Ethnic Armenian forces, backed by Armenia, drove out Azeri forces and took control of seven districts of Azerbaijan adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh. Around 30,000 people were killed in the war.
    Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told his party congress in Ankara that Turkey could not take a positive step towards Armenia unless Armenia withdraws from Azerbaijani land.
    The Turkish and Armenian parliaments must approve the accord in the face of opposition from nationalists on both sides and an Armenian diaspora which insists Turkey acknowledge the killings of up to 1.5 million Armenians during World War One as genocide.
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