Azerbaijani MP: What may Turkish and Armenian armed forces jointly study?

“Opening of the Armenia-Turkey border even for a time being will cause enormous damage to Turkey’s credibility,” Member of Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis (Parliament) Aydin Mirzazade said.

Commenting on Turkish media reports claiming Armenia-Turkey border will possibly open for NATO exercises, the MP said that Turkish leadership has announced at all levels -- from the president to the parliamentary speaker – that the border will Armenia will not open unless Armenian troops pull out from Azerbaijan’s lands.

"This stance is based on the current strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Turkey. The world community interpreted Ankara’s position on this issue of opening the Armenian-Turkish border exactly this way,” the MP added.

“During Turkish President Abdullah Gul's latest visit to Azerbaijan, Ankara and Baku officially declared about the strategic partnership between the countries. And after all this, the opening of Armenian-Turkish border based on weak arguments will be a blow to Turkey’s credibility," he said.

According to the MP, this can raise doubts about the strategic nature of Azerbaijani-Turkish relations in Azerbaijani public.

"The opening of the border will certainly be followed by convergence between the countries. It is no secret that there are some pro-Armenian forces in Turkey who are willing to sacrifice interests of the country and alliance with Azerbaijan for the sake of a few tens of millions of dollars in profits from the restoration of relations with Armenia. Their efforts and striving are obvious,” MP Mirzazade noted.

“It would appropriate to ask: what, in fact, may Turkish and Armenian armed forces jointly study? Maybe, the Turkish military will demonstrate Armenian colleagues how best to use different kinds of weapons against the Azerbaijani army or how to strengthen occupation of Azerbaijan’s territories?”
 
“The high combat readiness of the Turkish army is a fact well-known, and it is difficult to assume how exchange of experience between Turkish military and Armenian armed forces will end up. There is no guarantee that the combat experience which the Turkish military will share with their Armenian counterparts will not be used against Turkey itself. Will not the history with the infamous Andranik repeat? In any case, opening the border with Armenia is not justified by any common sense," Mirzazade stressed.
 
According to the parliamentarian, a decision concerning the border with Armenia depends entirely on the will of Turkey.

This country enjoys enormous international prestige and has a thousand-year history of statehood. Therefore, if it succumbs to external pressures, or some short-term political dividends, it will not add to the respect for Ankara, the Azerbaijani parliamentarian believes.


/Day.Az/