TURKEY SEEKS FENCE-MENDING MEETING WITH ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN

Agence France Presse
September 10, 2008 Wednesday 9:10 AM GMT

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan Wednesday said he was trying to
organise a meeting with counterparts from Armenia and Azerbaijan to
discuss decades-old disputes plaguing ties between them.

The idea, Babacan said, emerged during a historic visit to Yereven
by President Abdullah Gul on Saturday, which raised hopes that Turkey
and Armenia could overcome traditional enmity and establish diplomatic
relations.

"We have many reasons to be hopeful, the most important of which is
the presence of a strong political will" to improve ties, the minister
said in an interview with NTV television.

Babacan and Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian are already
scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New
York later this month.

Babacan said he suggested that their Azeri counterpart also join the
meeting and Nalbandian agreed.

"We will now seek Azerbaijan’s consent… The problems between Turkey
and Armenia and not independent from the problems between Azerbaijan
and Armenia," he said.

The issue would be discussed when Gul visits Baku later Wednesday,
he said.

Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic ties with eastern neighbour
Armenia because of Yerevan’s campaign for the recognition of the mass
killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during World War I
as genocide.

In 1993, Turkey dealt a heavy economic blow to its impoverished
neighbour by shutting the border in a show of solidarity with its close
ally Azerbaijan, then at war with Armenia over Nagorny Karabakh —
an Armenian-majority region in Azerbaijan which declared independence.

Babacan said Gul’s visit to Armenia, the first by a Turkish head of
state, had raised hopes that the two sides could mend fences.

"In our talks in Yereven we decided to speed up the process (of
reconciliation)… We are entering a period in which we will have
frequent contacts," he told NTV.

Gul travelled to Yereven for several hours to watch a World Cup
qualifying football match between Turkey and Armenia following an
invitation by his counterpart Serzh Sarkisian.