Turkey-Armenia reconciliation and Karabakh conflict settlement were touched upon by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on the threshold of World Economic Forum in Davos this week.

Commenting on linkage of Armenia-Turkey rapprochement with Karabakh peace process, Aliyev said, “There is a common understanding in the region that there should be a first step by Armenia to start the liberation of the occupied territories,” adding that Turkey fully understands the issue.

However, Aliyev reckons that Armenia will probably freeze talks with Azerbaijan, “if the two issues are disconnected.” According to the daily, president is confident Turkey will not ratify the Protocols until Armenia returns “occupied” territories to Azerbaijan.

As to gas supplies, Azerbaijan can export natural gas to Turkey, Georgia, Iran and Russia, Aliyev mentioned. Speaking about delay in construction of Nabucco project, he underlined “Gazprom has said it will buy whatever we supply.”