Azerbaijani MP: Resolving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of Turkey's priorities

In your opinion, will co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, who are expected to visit Yerevan and Baku by late January, offer any innovations in the negotiations on settlement of the Karabakh conflict?

I do not think one should expect any innovations from the OSCE Minsk Group. As in their previous visits, they will come to Baku to check whether Azerbaijan has changed its position on the Karabakh issue. Therefore, this visit of the OSCE Minsk Group will be no more than the next "walking". The solution of the Karabakh conflict must be sought in the plane of relations between Moscow, Washington and Ankara.

The media often uses the phrase "clarifying the Madrid principles". What, in your opinion, does this “clarification” imply?

I think this implies status of Nagorno-Karabakh, a phased withdrawal from the Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani lands, as well as holding a referendum on the territory in the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region. Baku holds firm stance on this issues and states that it is possible to hold referendum only after Azerbaijani refugees return to Karabakh.

Do you think Turkey will link development of economic relations with Russia with a resolution of the Karabakh problem in near future?

I do not think we can expect something like that. It is wrong to think that Ankara will link these two issues. Karabakh conflict is one of the priorities for Turkey. I think Moscow may change its stance on political issues once economic ties between Russia and Turkey are deepened leading to a softening of Russia's position on this issue.

How do you comment on Russian FM Sergey Lavrov’s statement that attempts to artificially link normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are "incorrect"?

This statement indicates that Russia has not changed position on the Karabakh conflict. Russia has almost repeated the wording to address these issues raised by Yerevan. On the other hand, it is wrong to expect Russia to make any change in position on the Karabakh issue. Along with this, I hope that PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan was able to convince Moscow that the development of their bilateral cooperation depends precisely on these issues.

Z. Ahmadov