Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 19 2008
Bryza denies comments on Turkey-Azerbaijan ties
A senior US State Department official denied yesterday comments
attributed to him in which he allegedly suggested that the common
motto of "one nation, two states" should be abandoned by Turkey and
Azerbaijan to help normalize relations between estranged neighbors
Turkey and Armenia.
"I have never said that. This is Turkey’s policy and, perhaps,
Azerbaijan’s and I do not have a right to demand to change it. I have
just mentioned the fact of such policy in Ankara and someone
misinterpreted my words," Matt Bryza, US deputy assistant secretary
of state for European and Eurasian affairs, was quoted by Azerbaijani
news portal Today.az as telling reporters yesterday in Baku. His
comment came in response to mention of Armenian media reports of his
remarks on Tuesday in Yerevan, where he participated in an
international conference titled "Wider Black Sea: Perspectives for
International and Regional Security" as a guest speaker.
"The US calls Turkey to normalize relations with Armenia without
participation of a third country, Azerbaijan, and to drop
preconditions. The slogan ‘one nation, two states’ reigning in Turkey
and Azerbaijan should be changed. Armenia is right to urge Turkey to
abandon setting preconditions but it should also recognize the
borders of modern Turkey," Bryza, who serves as the US co-chairman of
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk
Group for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution, was quoted as
saying at the conference by English-language news portal
PanARMENIAN.net
19.01.2008
Today’s Zaman with wires Ankara