Turkey concerned over killings on Azeri-Armenian battlelines

Turkey is concerned over the escalating tension along the border separating Azerbaijan and Armenia, saying that Ankara was closely following reports that five Azerbaijani and three Armenian soldiers had been killed in clashes. "We are following the developments with deep concern," Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal told Today's Zaman on Tuesday when asked about Turkey's position. Tensions have flared up along the Azerbaijani-Armenian border. According to Azerbaijan's defense ministry, five of its soldiers were killed in clashes with Armenian troops on Tuesday. The ministry said in a statement that exchanges of gunfire had been reported over the past two days at numerous points along Azerbaijan's western border. The incident coincided with an official visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the region. Clinton had hoped that the US would be able to contribute to making progress on the territorial disputes in the region. In a sign of protracted conflict, Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that "unfortunately, we cannot say the conflict is over." He said the deaths of the soldiers on the border will have a negative effect on the negotiation process in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "Such incidents will unfortunately go on unless the conflict is resolved, so we urge Armenia to work on a peace agreement," Mammadyarov said on Tuesday. "During the meeting that will be held on June 18, we will try to help the Armenian side understand that the current stalemate situation is not realistic and as a result of this current situation, young people are dying along the border. This issue will also be on the agenda during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit [to Azerbaijan]," Mammadyarov noted. Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, head of Ankara’s International Strategic and Security Research Center (USGAM), told Today’s Zaman that the timing of the escalated conflicts is important in terms of revealing the severity of the dispute to the US. "The fact that this conflict is happening during Clinton’s tour of the region serves Azerbaijan’s aim to bring the issue to America’s attention. This could be perceived as urging the US to take a more active part in a solution to Karabakh," Erol maintained. Professor Ahat Andican, a former minister and Caucasus expert, told Today’s Zaman that the conflict points to the inability of ongoing peace talks under the Minsk initiative. He maintained that this causes deep concerns to Turkey and would certainly harm the ongoing normalization process between Armenia and Turkey. Meanwhile, Turkish Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin met with Azerbaijani Minister of Internal Affairs Ramil Usubov in Ankara on Tuesday. Also, Gen. Hayri Kivrikoglu, Turkish Land Forces commander, left for Baku on Tuesday as part of a series of visits by Turkish military staff to increase military cooperation with Azerbaijan. Kivrikoglu’s visit will end on Friday. Earlier in February, Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Ozel had visited the country. Following Kivrikoglu’s visit, Rear Adm. Serdar Dulger, the coast guard commander, will also visit Baku on June 19-22. During the visits, aspects of Turkish-Azerbaijani military cooperation will be discussed and a total of 14 agreements will be signed. Meanwhile, the ministers of foreign affairs of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia will come together for a tripartite meeting in the Black Sea province of Trabzon on Friday to assess bilateral and regional developments.