Will Turkey Support Azerbaijan in case of War? Davutoglu Avoids Direct Answer

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met on April 19 with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov with Armenia-Turkey rapprochement and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement on the agenda.

Davutoglu is also said to have informed his Azerbaijani colleagues about the meetings the Armenian and Turkish high-ranking officials held in Washington in the framework of the World Nuclear Security Summit on April 12-13.

At a press conference after the meeting with Mammadyarov Davutoglu gave an evasive answer to a question over whether Turkey would support Azerbaijan should the war resume.

“We do not want the situation get tenser in the region. Let’s build together a Caucasus where all the parties will mutually respect each other’s territorial integrity,” local Turkish daily Radikal quotes Davutoglu as saying.

Turkish foreign minister also said that Turkey wanted to see all borders open in the South Caucasus.

“We hope that the South Caucasus will see a new era when all the borders will be open, all relations normalized, stability established and when there will be mutual trust. We hope that the [Nagorno-Karabakh] process initiated by the [OSCE] Minsk Group will be accelerated and will reach its final objective,” said Davutoglu.