RELATIONS BETWEEN TURKEY, ARMENIA HURT BY YEREVAN’S TERRITORIAL CLAIMS
Russia & CIS Diplomatic Panorama
October 30, 2007 Tuesday 6:12 PM MSK
Turkey is ready to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia
only after the country removes from its constitution the provisions
containing territorial claims on several Turkish eastern territories,
Turkish Ambassador to Russia Kurtulush Taskent said.
"To establish normal diplomatic relations, such as those existing
with other countries, Armenia must remove from its declaration of
independence, from its constitution, those provisions that call for
the annexation of other countries’ territories," Taskent told a press
conference in Moscow.
Turkey was the first country to recognize Armenia’s independence.
However, the fundamental law of this country contains statements "that
are territorial claims on Turkey’s eastern areas," and in addition,
Armenia has now "occupied about 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory,"
he said.
Regarding the problem of "frozen conflicts" in the former Soviet Union,
including in Georgia and Azerbaijan, such conflicts must be resolved
through established democratic procedures based on the principle of
territorial integrity.