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Turkey’s PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to leave Tehran for Azerbaijan. The highlights of the visit are the gas price deal with Baku and Ankara’s new proposal over the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process, Hurriyet writes. According to the source, Erdogan will suggest Baku to make the Armenian military forces withdraw from two of the 7 territories adjacent to Karabakh and open the Armenian -Azerbaijani border.

“Baku is persistent over the withdrawal of the Armenian forces from 5 territories in the upcoming future, though, the Armenian side refuses to and this has brought the talks to a deadlock,” the paper says, adding that even if Baku states it will not take a step back from 5+2 format, the talks on the proposal over handing the two territories continue behind the close doors.

According to the Turkish paper, the two regions are Kelbajar and Fizouli. Ankara closed the border with Armenia in 1993 when the Armenians liberated Kelbajar. That’s why the withdrawal from Kelbajar is so important for Ankara. It is signified in terms of Armenia-Turkey normalization.

Hurriyet highlights that the cut of Azerbaijan’s expectations by withdrawal of the forces from two territories has another point of significance: Ankara is trying to ensure any signals form Armenia over withdrawal. This will form beneficial grounds for the ratification of the protocols in the Turkish parliament and resuming the process Armenia suspended. Citing government’s sources, the paper says that providing Armenia does not compromise over the new proposal, Ankara will freeze the normalization process on long-term basis.

The Nagorno-Karabakh (armed) conflict broke out back in 1991, when, subsequent to the demand for self-determination of the Nagorno-Karabakh people, Azerbaijani authorities attempted to resolve the issue through ethnic cleansings, carried out by Soviet security forces (KGB special units) under the pretext of the implementation of the passport regime and by launching of large-scale military operations, which left thousands dead and caused considerable material damage. A cease-fire agreement was established in 1994. Negotiations on the settlement of the conflict are being conducted under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen (Russia, USA, France) and on the basis of their Madrid proposals, presented in November, 2007.

Azerbaijan has not yet implemented the 4 resolutions of the UN Security Council adopted in 1993, by continuing to provoke arms race in the region and openly violating on of the basic principles of the international law non-use of force or threat of force.