Turkish support is vital to Azeri hopes of regaining control of Nagorno Karabakh, The Times reports.

Azerbaijan reacts ferociously to hints of a Turkish-Armenian rapprochement. It has suggested that it would use its oil muscle and interrupt supplies through the vital pipeline from Baku to southern Turkey unless Armenia made concessions.

The threat seems to have rattled Ankara. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's Prime Minister, poured cold water yesterday on suggestions from Armenia that the border could be opened in time for the World Cup qualifying tie in October. President Sargsyan said he hoped he would be able to cross the border into Turkey to watch the football game. Not until Nagorno-Karabakh is settled, Mr Erdogan retorted.

The Islamist Prime Minister cannot be seen to abandon his Muslim neighbor. But Turkey has also long harbored hopes that it could spread its influence far beyond Azerbaijan into former Soviet Central Asia, which is Turkic-speaking and desperately in need of some Western know-how and investment. These hopes came to little in the early 90s. Now they are being revived. Ankara can ill afford to upset the Azeris,

Reconciliation with Armenia, however, and an end to the Caucasus stalemate could benefit everyone, the article says.