Azernews.Az

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to visit Azerbaijan on Wednesday.
The premier will hold all of his meetings at President Ilham Aliyev`s summer residence in the Zagulba settlement, 40 km north of Baku.
Azerbaijani former state adviser, analyst Vafa Guluzada has said Erdogan should issue strongly-worded statements on defending Azerbaijan`s security. He emphasized, however, that Turkey greatly relies on Russia`s energy resources. Russia meets about 60% of the country`s needs for gas.
"Thus, Turkey`s taking a decisive stance on the security of Georgia and Azerbaijan appears somewhat questionable," the analyst said.
He stressed that the pipelines running through Georgia are of great importance to Turkey. Therefore, Ankara should, at least for the sake of its own interests, counter Moscow`s strengthening in the Caucasus.
Russia staged a military incursion into Georgia`s unrecognized republic of South Ossetia on August 8. Russian ground troops and warplanes struck targets in Georgian regions, in what Moscow called an effort "to encourage peace". The stand-off came to a halt on August 12 after five days of deadly fighting. Prior to the Russia-Georgia conflict, Georgia had launched an offensive to retake the region.
Guluzada said the threats that have beset Georgia are bad news for Azerbaijan. "Armenia has a military agreement with Russia. This means that if [a military] threat to Armenia arises, Russia will defend it. In this case, why shouldn`t we have a similar deal with Turkey?" Guluzada said.
Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan`s internationally-recognized territory since the early 1990s. Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly warned the country`s land will be freed at any cost.
The Turkish premier visited Moscow on Thursday where he held talks with Russian leaders on reaching a negotiated solution to the South Ossetia conflict. He later headed to Tbilisi where he had talks with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili regarding the latest wave of unrest in Georgia.
Erdogan said after the talks that the platform on promoting stability and cooperation in the Caucasus had been submitted to the Georgian and Russian governments, which welcomed the initiative. He said Ankara wanted Azerbaijan to adopt this platform, as well. The Turkish government believes this proposal will help to settle the ethnic conflicts flaring in the region, he said, adding that the issue would be discussed with President Aliyev.