Turkey-Armenia ties’ restoration possible after liberation of Azerbaijani lands: official
By Sara Rajabova
Turkey once again voiced support for restoration of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
"The relations between Turkey and Armenia can be restored only after liberation of Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia," deputy head of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party has said.
Mehmet Ali Shahin, in his interview with the country's TRT Haber TV channel on April 24, noted that Turkey has repeatedly voiced its position over this issue.
"Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says in all his statements that only after liberation of Azerbaijan's occupied territories, the normalization of relations and opening of Turkish-Armenian borders can be a topic of discussions," he stressed.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s.
The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.
Long-standing efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
Turkey cut diplomatic ties and closed its border with Armenia after the country invaded Azerbaijan's territories.
Turkey set Armenia's withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 surrounding regions of Azerbaijan as a precondition for establishing diplomatic relations with the country.