Azernews.Az

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has labeled as a provocation the disrespect shown for Azerbaijani flags during a recent Turkey-Armenia soccer match played in the Turkish town of Bursa. The statement has been made as a result of an investigation, he told journalists in Baku last Thursday.
``No waste basket in Turkey has the words ``WC`` written on it. An unknown individual had written these words on it, put flags there and recorded the image. This is a provocation,`` Davutoglu said.
Turkey and Armenia faced-off in a 2010 World Cup qualifier on October 14. Though the match was strictly formal, as both countries previously had lost their chances to advance to the final leg of the championship, it was marred by tensions. Soccer`s global governing body, the FIFA, had banned Azerbaijani flags at the match, saying politics should not be mixed with football. Angry fans clashed with police and soldiers, and incidents of throwing flags to the ground were reported, sparking an outcry in Azerbaijan, which faces a long-standing conflict with Armenia.
The Turkish minister said an investigation into the flag-related incidents was underway, pledging that those responsible for insulting the Azerbaijani flag would be brought to account. ``I won`t put up with disrespect for the Azerbaijani flag, either.``
Turkish media quoted the Bursa governor, Sahabettin Harput, as saying that a police chief and two police officers are being investigated over the throwing of flags to the ground and one of the policemen has been suspended due to the incident.
The match was of great political importance. Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian attended the match after being invited by his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul. The match was a return game following the one played in Yerevan in September 2008, which was attended by the two countries` leaders and signaled signs of a thaw in Ankara-Yerevan ties.
Turkey and Armenia face decades of enmity. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 due to Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory and past genocide claims. However, on October 10 in Zurich, the two governments signed two agreements to establish diplomatic relations and reopen their borders, in a bid to normalize their strained relations.
The agreement triggered a cool-down in Baku-Ankara relations, though the documents require parliamentary approval before taking effect, and Turkish officials have repeatedly made clear that Ankara could mend ties with Yerevan and open the border only after the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict has been fairly resolved.
Davutoglu spoke out against the recent removal of Turkey`s flags around a monument honoring Turkish servicemen at a cemetery in Baku.
The flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan were taken down around the monument at the Alley of Martyrs honoring Turkish soldiers who fell in battles with the troops of Armenian Dashnaks and Soviet Bolsheviks, responsible for carnage in Baku in 1918.
The development has sparked discontent in Turkey. Azerbaijani officials responded that the flag removal complies with Azerbaijan`s legislation, which allows hoisting foreign flags only in the locations of diplomatic missions, international organizations` offices and residences housing high-level governmental delegations. Davutoglu said treating his country`s flag as a foreign flag by Azerbaijan was undesirable.
``Since we do not differentiate between the lands of Anatolia and Azerbaijan, those soldiers had come to Azerbaijan saying `that`s our land too`. Those martyrs are not ours, but yours, they are martyrs of the Azerbaijani people. Our Azerbaijani brethren should understand this very well.``
The Turkish foreign minister and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov, paid tribute at the Alley of Martyrs. The two ministers laid carnations on each grave at the cemetery. Further, they visited the monument to the Turkish soldiers. Mammadyarov and Davutoglu were seen having a very sincere conversation at the site.
The Turkish minister voiced hope that the flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan at the memorial would ``wave alongside each other again in the shortest time possible.``
Mammadyarov emphasized that a common ground had been struck during his counterpart`s meeting last Thursday with President Ilham Aliyev on ``the flag problem.`` ``We are ready to solve problems emerging between the two states of one nation - naturally, if there are such problems.``
But the Azerbaijani minister did not answer journalists` question about returning the flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan to the area located around the memorial to the Turkish war victims.
Davutoglu noted that the misunderstanding that has arisen between the two countries should be resolved in a friendly and fraternal manner.
``My meetings with Elmar Mammadyarov today were based on this sincere attitude. The Turkish and Azerbaijani foreign ministers met not as two sides, but as a common side exercising the same approach to existing problems.``
According to Davutoglu, the recent signing of the protocols on normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations will give an incentive for resolving the largest problem in the Caucasus - the Garabagh conflict.
``The protocols were signed in view of long-term reconciliation in the region. And this is possible only and strictly after the liberation of Azerbaijani territories from occupation,`` Davutoglu added.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law.

Protest
Turkey`s Foreign Ministry issued a note to Azerbaijan last Wednesday over the removal of the Turkish flags from a building housing the Turkish embassy`s Office for Religious Affairs in Baku, a representative of the diplomatic mission said.
Muzaffar Shahin, the embassy`s adviser for religious affairs, noted that the area where the flags were removed belongs to the diplomatic mission. Shahin said the flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan had been taken down from the Office area, located close to the Alley of Martyrs, by several people who said they were workers. They did not provide reasons for their actions, the diplomat said.
Azerbaijani officials say that the flag removal complies with Azerbaijan`s legislation, which allows hoisting foreign flags only in the areas of diplomatic missions, locations of international organizations` offices and residences housing high-level governmental delegations. However, buildings that are part of diplomatic missions, but are not attributed to such locations, such as a cultural center, are not considered a location of a diplomatic mission.