Peace in Karabakh to help ensure stability in Caucasus – FMs
By Valery Litvinenko

ITAR-TASS News Agency , Russia
February 10, 2005 Thursday 12:23 PM Eastern Time

ANKARA, February 10 — Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Azerbaijan –
Abdullah Gul and Elmar Mamedyarov – agree that the Nagorno-Karabakh
settlement is one of the main conditions for peace in the Caucasus.

On Thursday, the foreign ministers held talks on the development of
bilateral relations, world and regional problems. Much attention was
riveted to the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, Gul said upon completion of
the talks.

Economic relations between the two friendly countries are developing
dynamically in the last years. The volume of economic ties reached
500 million U.S. dollars, the Turkish minister stressed.

Gul said he is hopeful that the peace talks on this problem will
yield success, which will help normalise relations with Armenia.

Mamedyarov thanked his Turkish counterpart for support that Ankara
provided to Azerbaijan in order to solve this Nagorno-Karabakh
problem. The Azerbaijani minister said he believes that the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan gas pipeline will be commissioned in 2006 or 2007.

According to Anatolia News Agency, the talks focused on Azerbaijan’s
participation in the isolation of the so-called Turkish Republic of
North Cyprus. Gul said, “In this aspect Baku’s policy may become an
example for other countries.” In response the Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry stressed that this problem is considered by experts.