AZERBAIJAN NOT CONCERNED ABOUT UNOFFICIAL TALKS BETWEEN TURKEY AND ARMENIA: FOREIGN MINISTRY
Trend News Agency
July 21 2008
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan is not concerned about the unofficial talks between Turkey
and Armenia on opening of borders.
"The important for us is the official position of Turkey," Khazar
Ibrahim, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan said to
media on 21 July.
The representatives of Turkey and Armenia held unofficial talks on
18 July, Hurriyet newspaper reported.
"As Foreign Minister of Turkey Ali Babajan stated that the position
of Turkey on opening borders is unchanged, we hope that the measures
adopted by Turkey will meet this policy," Ibrahim said.
The border between Turkey and Armenia has been closed for 15 years
because of the unsolved so-called ‘Armenian genocide’ it the Ottoman
Empire during the World War I. The official Ankara has stated more
than once that it will not open borders with Armenia unless Yerevan
gives up its ‘Armenian genocide’ claims and it frees occupied lands
of Azerbaijan.
20% of lands of Azerbaijan including Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 surrounding
regions have been occupied by the Armenian troops.