Baku is convinced that Turkey closed its border with Armenia because of the Karabakh conflict, and that it will not reopen it unless Armenia removes its troops from Karabakh, Sabine Freizer, the European Program Director at the International Crisis Group, told bs-kavkaz.org, with respect to the current deadlock in the Armenian-Turkish relations. 

“The [Armenian-Turkish] protocols truly have many opponents. But there is yet another most important obstacle: Azerbaijan. Baku is convinced that Turkey closed its border with Armenia because of the Karabakh conflict, and that it will not reopen it unless Armenia removes its troops from Karabakh. By starting talks with Armenia, Turkey was thinking that it could conduct them without factoring in Baku’s view. But the Turks were mistaken in their calculations. Azerbaijan was able to affect the Turkish authorities, society, and the nationalist forces, and as a result Ankara is compelled to take Baku’s opinion into account in relations with Armenia,” Freizer noted.          

In her view, there is no link between the Armenian-Turkish relations and the Karabakh issue. And even though they are interrelated to some extent, it should not be expected that the Armenian-Turkish process would resolve the Karabakh issue.   

“I believe the best alternative for resolving the Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group’s proposal, that is, the providing of an interim status and a security guarantee to Karabakh. There is a functioning government, [and] a developing economy in Nagorno-Karabakh. That is why an interim status will enable it to have contact with the world and to attract investments,” Sabine Freizer maintained.