LAVROV TO VISIT ISTANBUL NEXT WEEK FOR CAUCASUS TALKS

Today’s Zaman
Aug 27 2008
Turkey

Senior level talks conducted yesterday in Moscow between Turkish
and Russian diplomats concerning a proposed "Caucasia Stability and
Cooperation Platform" yielded positive results, prompting Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to pay a visit to Ä°stanbul next week
for detailed talks with his Turkish counterpart, Ali Babacan.

Ambassador Unal Ceviköz, the deputy undersecretary of the Foreign
Ministry, flew to Moscow on Monday. Amidst a global reaction against
Russia’s decision to recognize breakaway Georgian territories,
Ceviköz had talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir
Titov on what Ankara earlier called "a set of concrete proposals."

As a result of these talks between Ceviköz and Titov, Lavrov decided
to hold detailed talks with Babacan earlier than expected, Russian
sources told Today’s Zaman. Lavrov will arrive in Ä°stanbul on Monday
evening and have talks with Babacan on Tuesday, the same sources said,
noting that Lavrov would depart from Ä°stanbul following a joint press
conference with Babacan. The concrete proposals were first briefly
explained by Babacan to Lavrov on Friday when the former initiated
a telephone conversation with the latter.

Ankara had already announced that officials from the Turkish
and Russian foreign ministries would meet this week to work on
the proposals and that Babacan and Lavrov will also meet in early
September to review progress in the technical talks. Yet, both Russian
and Turkish officials are still tightlipped concerning the content
of Ankara’s proposals, apparently due to the delicacy of the issue
given the conjuncture in the region as well as the conflict between
Georgia and Russia, which has led to global tension.

Ankara’s proposal for the platform — which is supposed to bring
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Turkey around the same table
— came after a regional crisis erupted following a Georgian military
offensive in its Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia
earlier this month. In the first half of August, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid successive visits to Moscow and Tbilisi
and traveled to Baku last week to promote and gain support for the
proposed platform. Both Georgian and Russian leaders said they would
welcome the idea, while a joint statement released by Erdogan and
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Baku had approached the
proposal "positively."

Armenia and Azerbaijan are in a state of enmity due to Armenia’s
continued occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan and observers
say a regional alliance including both countries as members may
be difficult to implement. Ahead of his departure for Baku on
Aug. 20, however, Erdogan disclosed Ankara’s eagerness for Armenia’s
participation in a "Caucasus alliance," as he said it would greatly
increase regional stability. He said the form of talks with Armenia
would be set following Babacan’s consultations with Lavrov. In an
initial reaction, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said
Yerevan welcomed the Turkish initiative.

–Boundary_(ID_ymmA838ke83E46s40LIqPg )–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress