BODRUM, Turkey (RFE/RL)—Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has thanked his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev for publicly supporting Azerbaijan’s concerns regarding Armenia’s efforts to join a Russian-led alliance of ex-Soviet republics.
The two men met in the Turkish city of Bodrum late on Wednesday ahead of a summit of Turkic states.
Aliyev’s press office said they discussed deepening relations between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan and engaged in a “broad exchange of opinions” about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“On behalf of himself and our people, President Ilham Aliyev expressed gratitude to Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev for supporting Azerbaijan’s position in connection with Armenia’s membership in the Customs Union at the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council,” the office said in a statement.
The statement referred to the May 29 meeting in Astana that was attended by the presidents of the union’s three member states — Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus — as well as Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Addressing the summit, Nazarbayev said the union’s upcoming accession treaty with Armenia must make a special reference to the latter’s internationally recognized borders.
President Serzh Sarkisian appeared to have been caught off guard by Nazarbayev’s statement and did not respond to the Kazakh leader at the summit. Sarkisian rejected Nazarbayev’s demand only on his return to Armenia.
Nazarbayev similarly echoed Azerbaijani concerns about Yerevan’s membership bid at a Customs Union summit that took place in Moscow last December. “The question of the Custom Union’s border, where it will pass in Armenia, remains open,” he said.
Nazarbayev referred to Armenia’s border with the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the absence of any Armenian customs posts there. Armenian leaders have repeatedly assured the domestic public that they will not tax goods coming from Karabakh even after joining the Russian-led trade bloc which is now being transformed into the Eurasian Economic Union.
Azerbaijan has friends while our “friends” are our masters.
We got ourselves into this mess by being complacent with the scum who run Armenia and represent the country abroad.
We are forever grateful to Mother Russia’s perpetual benevolence.
“Sarkisian rejected Nazarbayevs demand….”???He didnt it!
Evidently Nazarbayev is being controlled by Aliyev. What more there is to it?
Is this all Nazarbayev managed to achieve by showing his lack of hospitality? A “thank you” from… ? Cheap.
Sultan Aliyev can share his oily bathtub with Nazerabayev !
Who should Armenia thank for a pro-Armenia stance?
Nobody. That’s because not even Armenia’s leaders have adopted a pro-Armenia stance.
Both of the same genes…
The ISHAK on the left (Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev) does not understand that Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev is probably right. Karabakh had no intension of joining the Union anyway. Not at the present. Why is the Esh on the left happy about?
What made it a bit confusing was the statement came from Nursultan and not Putin. Otherwise, nothing said was wrong. Armenia can join if they like. Karabakh not ready yet.
Pro-Russian/anti-Armenian mental realignment in progress.
While the Azeris have friends who actually support them, our “friends” are tugging on the Azeris and tacitly encouraging them to shoot at our boys, and threaten us as a means of keeping us in check. Putin’s Russia is as big of a factor in the Karabagh problem as Aliyev’s Azerbaijan is.
Yes and we know how your EU/US fantasies would turn out so much better. Just look at what a great job they did with Georgia and Ukraine.