Turkey to take on broader role in Karabakh settlement – Azeri TV
Azad Azarbaycan TV, Baku
28 Jun 04
[Presenter] Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met Turkish President
Ahmet Necdet Sezer in Istanbul on the second day of the NATO
summit. The meeting debated bilateral and regional problems in detail.
In the second half of the day, the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Turkish
foreign ministers had a meeting. At the meeting, which ended a short
while ago, an agreement was reached to prepare a mechanism for
Turkey’s participation in the Nagornyy Karabakh settlement. Etibar
Mammadov reports the details from Istanbul:
[Mammadov] President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Sezer focused
on a peaceful resolution to the Nagornyy Karabakh problem. The
spokesman for the Turkish president reports that the 30-minute meeting
also exchanged opinions on the Turkish Cyprus problem.
The meeting of the Turkish, Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers
has just ended. The Turkish foreign minister has told a press
conference that the meeting was fruitful and aimed to support the
peace talks within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan said that the sides had
exchanged opinions on regional stability. He said that it was
important to define the parameters of a new strategy for the Caucasus
as this was important against the backdrop of the expansion of Europe
and NATO. Oskanyan said that the sides would continue their efforts to
find a solution to the Karabakh problem. He said that Turkey, Armenia
and Azerbaijan were equally interested in maintaining regional
stability. Oskanyan also stressed that the opening of the
Turkish-Armenian border had also been discussed, adding that this
issue would take a long time. However, Oskanyan was satisfied with the
talks.
In turn, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that the
sides at the meeting had put forward their positions on the resolution
of the [Nagornyy Karabakh] problem. The minister said that at the
trilateral meeting, the sides had discussed giving a broader role to
Turkey in the resolution of the conflict. The sides decided to draw up
a special mechanism, and the work on the issue will be completed
within one or two months.
[Passage omitted: minor details]