Azerbaijan, Baku, September 19 / Trend , J.Babayeva /
Speaker of the Parliament of Azerbaijan believes that opening Turkey's borders with Armenia without solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will bring a serious blow to the restoration of peace and stability in the South Caucasus.
"Those who want to disrupt the parallelism in this matter should understand that opening borders without the liberation of the occupied territories inflicts a serious blow to the restoration of peace and stability in the South Caucasus, as well as contradicts the national interests of Azerbaijan," said the Speaker of the
Azerbaijani Parliament Oktay Asadov at the meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, to the press service of the Parliament of Azerbaijan said.
During the negotiations through the mediation of Switzerland, Turkey and Armenia reached an agreement on beginning "internal political consultations" regarding signing "Protocol on establishing diplomatic relations" and "Protocol on development of bilateral relations", Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
Political consultations will conclude within six weeks and after that, two protocols will be signed to be presented for approval by the parliaments of the two countries," said the statement by Foreign Ministry of Turkey.
There are not diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia, the borders between them have been closed since 1993.
The delegation of parliamentarians led by Oktay Asadov made an official visit to Switzerland from 16 to 18 September. The delegation includes MPs Chingiz Asadullayev, Asim Mollazade, Elton Mammadov, head of Parliament's office Safa Mirzayev and other officials.
During the meeting, the Speaker said that the reason for closing borders between Turkey and Armenia is the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories.
"The issue has not found its solution for already several years. Armenia does not recognize international law and resolutions of the influential international organizations. In its turn, Azerbaijan does not intend to interfere in the internal affairs of Turkey and Armenia. But everyone should understand that opening borders and liberation of territories should be carried out in parallel," Asadov said at the meeting.
Switzerland attaches great importance to relations with Azerbaijan, Micheline Calmy-Rey said, adding that serious preparations are conducted in connection with the visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Switzerland, scheduled for October.
Asadov expressed his hope that the relations between the two countries will continue to grow further, and thanked the Swiss Government for the recognition of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
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