De-occupation of the Azerbaijani territories will contribute positively to the ratification of the Turkish-Armenian protocols in the Turkish parliament, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview to Al Jazeera.
"There is no hope that the protocol will be ratified without the positive progress [in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict]," Davutoglu said. "Political and psychological atmosphere in which the parliament would ratify an agreement of this kind is important."
Last week, the Turkish parliament launched discussions on the Armenian-Turkish protocol.
During the speech by the MP from the ruling Justice and Development Party of Turkey Omer Chelik, MPs from the opposition left the meeting hall of Parliament as protest.
Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward Nalbandian signed the protocols Ankara-Yerevan in Zurich on October 10.
"We are acting in accordance with the constitution and cannot exert pressure on the Turkish parliament on the issue of ratification of protocols," the minister said.
The Armenian-Turkish protocols on normalization of relations have a positive impact on establishment of stability in the South Caucasus and solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Davutoglu added.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7 districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
"We want to prepare the political and psychological framework in order the parliament will recognize the protocols. This requires progress in the peace negotiations, because the occupation of the Azerbaijani lands had become a problem in Turkey," the minister stated.
