"God forbid, this will not happen and Armenia and Azerbaijan will find a common language"

Interview with member of the Great National Assembly of Turkey (Parliament) from the ruling Justice and Development Party, Mehmet Hanifi Alir.


How can you assess this year in terms of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations? What can happen in this matter by the end of this year and next year? Is there hope for the revival of the Armenian-Turkish relations?

There has been a fundamental principle "Peace at home, peace in the world" since the establishment of the Turkish Republic. The other question is - how far we were able to put this principle into practice. During the reign of our party in Turkey, another fundamental principle - "zero problems with all neighbors" was put forward. Armenia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey and other countries are in the same region, and we need to live in peace and respect each other.

As to the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, it accelerated at the same time. Naturally, in this case Turkey took interests of fraternal Azerbaijan into account. So, the process accelerated and reached a certain point. However, it is clear that foreign policy does not solve all problems at once.  Currently, the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations is in a quiet stage. But I believe that the Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish relations will improve in the coming years.
 
Armenia has consistently demonstrated an aggressive and unconstructive policy toward Azerbaijan. Proceeding from this, may hostilities resume in Karabakh?

I don’t think so. God forbid, this will not happen and Armenia and Azerbaijan will find a common language. Naturally, Armenian-Turkish relations will improve after they resolve their problems. At the same time I want to emphasize that Turkey will always consider the interests of Azerbaijan. It's obvious.

How do you assess the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group? Can it, in your opinion, settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict? Does the OSCE Minsk Group need a change?

Turkey’s involvement is needed in all matters in the South Caucasus and Middle East, as it is unrealistic to achieve durable peace in these regions without Turkey’s participation.

Armenia has long delayed its response to the Madrid principles. How can you comment on that?
 
I do not know what the reason is. Maybe it is because Armenia is not ready to answer yet. I can only say that as usual countries that do not comply with the rules and regulations are considered losers.
 
In your opinion, which countries can help Armenia to come to senses, get on the right path and mend relations with its neighbors?

It is too difficult to give unequivocal answer to this question. I can only stress that Turkey is an important actor in our region and interests of our country should be taken into account in any matter.


/Day.Az/