Erdogan Will Convince Aliyev to Be Satisfied with only Kelbajar and Fizuli: Hurriyet

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to visit Baku later today to discuss with the Azerbaijani administration the long-awaited gas deal.

According to the Turkish Daily Hurriyet also on the agenda will be the issue of the Karabakh settlement with Erdogan to propose that Armenia return only 2 regions instead of 7 as Azerbaijan insists.

"Prime Minister Erdogan's visit is essential both in terms of the agreement reached over the gas price and the Karabakh conflict. The agenda of Erdogan's visit includes the latest proposal over the Karabakh conflict according to which Azerbaijan will open the border gate with Armenia, if the Armenians pull out of the 2 regions out of the 7 adjacent to Karabakh," writes Hurriyet.

"Even if the Baku administration stresses in its statement addressed to the international community that it will not step back from the '5+2' resolution, however, the discussions over the 2 regions continue. It is being mentioned that those 2 regions are Kelbajar and Fizuli. Ankara closed the border [with Armenia] in 1993 when Armenia took over Kelbajar. For that reason the issue of [Armenia's withdrawal] from Kelbajar is essential for Ankara-Yerevan relations. Should that proposal be accepted, Turkey's expectation over Kelbajar will fulfill, and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border will open which, in turn, will facilitate the opening of the [Armenia-Turkey] border by Ankara," writes the newspaper.