ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
January 11, 2005 Tuesday 7:47 AM Eastern Time
Russia ready to mediate Karabakh problem settlement-Putin
By Viktoria Sokolova
MOSCOW
Russia’s is ready to act as a mediator of settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem, President Vladimir Putin told reporters
after his meeting with Turkish businessmen in Moscow on Tuesday.
“Russia will do everything in order to settle conflicts that have
left after the USSR. We shall do this as a mediator and guarantor,
with an understanding that accords should be reached between the
sides in the conflict – Armenia and Azerbaijan”.
Putin said he and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan “did not
discuss directly” at their talks on Tuesday settlement of the
Karabakh conflict.
However, they “touched in a general outline on the relations between
Russia and Armenia, Armenia and Turkey”.
Putin said he and the Turkish prime minister shared the idea that
“one should seek to establish friendly relations between neighbours”.
“We know the difficult history of the legacy between Turkey and
Armenia”, the president said, adding that Armenia “is looking for way
of improving relations” with Turkey.
Russia will help this process, Putin said.
Erdogan for his part said he was ready to establish the interaction
with Armenia.
Turkey will hold consultations in order to find a solution to the
issue, he said.
“I hope that there will be a constructive answer to our consultative
approach.”
Erdogan stressed the Turkey’s policy regarding Armenia was oriented
towards “settlement, and not a lack of settlement”.
He cited as the latest step to establish cooperation the opening of
the Istanbul airport for flights to Armenia.
The ground border between the two countries has not been opened so
far, as “answering movement has not been demonstrated” to proposals
of Ankara.
The efforts to establish the interaction with Armenia should be built
up, Erdogan said.
Turkey does not want to hurt the neighbours, he said.