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Deniz Baykal: â€œAbdullah Gul must immediately go to Azerbaijan and meet with Ilham Aliyevâ€

21 April 2009 14:15 (UTC +04:00)

If there are serious problems in Turkey-Azerbaijan relations, this government can not resolve it. President Abdullah Gul must immediately go to Baku and meet with Ilham Aliyev to discuss all issues directly with him. It is not enough to make statements like â€œthe borders will not be opened without solution of Karabakh problemâ€. Turkey can not deny its assistance to Azerbaijan, which it shows to Somalia and Bahrainâ€, said leader of Turkeyâ€™s Republican Peopleâ€™s Party (CHP) Deniz Baykal in the meeting of CHP parliamentary faction. Baykal said recently they sent four-member delegation, including former diplomat, MP Shukru Elekdag to Azerbaijan. â€œWe went there, held meetings and learned the situation on site and saw deep grievance in Azerbaijan toward Turkeyâ€.

Baykal said Azerbaijan learned the content of secret Turkey-Armenia talks in Switzerland from Russia. â€œIt doesnâ€™t become us that Azerbaijan learned it from Russia. It slashed Azerbaijan. I donâ€™t mention the Foreign Minister Ali Babacanâ€™s unmannerly conduct yet. Turkey can establish contacts with Armenia, but Azerbaijan canâ€™t be unaware. It is not correct to inform Azerbaijan occasionally. The talks must be held with direct participation of Azerbaijan or it must be informed about all phases of the talksâ€.

Baykal called on the countryâ€™s authorities to raise the Turkey-Azerbaijan friendship again.