Azernews.Az

BAKU – Turkish Ambassador in Baku Hulusi Kilic has termed as erroneous Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov`s recent statement criticizing Ankara’s reconciliation accords signed with Armenia in 2009.

"What Araz Azimov said was his own views," Kilic told reporters on Friday. "Turkey’s policy is a strong one. In any case, I think he was wrong."

The Azerbaijani deputy minister recently told CNN Turk TV channel that Turkey has complicated a settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh by signing the agreements on normalizing its relations with Armenia in October 2009. "Those protocols brought about a crisis for us. The normalization process has been suspended, and neither has progress been achieved on the Karabakh issue," Azimov said.

Turkey and Armenia have been at odds for decades due to Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani territory and Armenian claims on 1915 "genocide". The reconciliation agreements, signed by Ankara and Yerevan in Zurich, envisioned establishing diplomatic relations. However, Turkey has assured Azerbaijan, its ally, that the protocols will not be ratified until progress is made in resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. In response, Yerevan suspended parliamentary approval of the accords in April 2010.