Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 9 / Trend R.Hafizoglu /
If Armenia wants to open its borders with Turkey, first it must resolve its issues with Azerbaijan, former Turkish National Intelligence Committee analyst Mahir Kaynak said.
"If Armenia wants its borders to be opened, it must above all else solve its problems with Azerbaijan," Kaynak told Trend today.
Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward Nalbandian signed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols in Zurich Oct. 10.
Turkey and Armenia in the talks mediated by Switzerland reached an agreement to launch "internal political consultations" on Aug. 31 to sign the "Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations and Protocol on the Development of Bilateral Relations," the Turkish Foreign Ministry reported.
Turkey does not plan to open its borders with Armenia, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davudoglu said earlier.
Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey have been broken due to Armenia's claims of an alleged genocide, and its occupation of Azerbaijani lands. The border between them has been broken since 1993.
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.
Ankara will never take steps against Azerbaijan's interests, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview with local press Oct.10.
The day after signing the protocols Davutoglu called the liberation of the occupied Azerbaijani territories an important condition for establishing relations with Armenia in an interview with the TRT1 Turkish television station.
According to Kaynak, the Turkish parliament has not yet discussed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols after their signing, which is a message to Armenia.
"Opening the Turkish-Armenian borders is directly linked to the resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh problem," he said.
According to the official, relations with Azerbaijan are more important than relations with Armenia.
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