TURKEY HOPES TO HOLD TRIPARTITE MEETING WITH ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
Hurriyet
HotNewsTurkey.com
Sep 20, 2008
Turkey
Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan is
set to leave for the U.S. on Saturday to attend the United Nations
summit in New York. Turkey also would push for its bid for United
Nation Security Council membership ahead of the voting in October.
A new chill in East-West relations overhangs next week’s U.N. General
Assembly gathering of world leaders, the first major international
meeting since Russia-Georgia war last month.
The financial turmoil on Wall Street could also cast a pall over the
annual week of speechifying, whose main theme this year is stepping
up aid to impoverished countries.
But for Turkey the most important aim is to bring Armenian and
Azerbaijani top diplomats together on the same table with the hope
of taking a step towards the solution of the conflicts.
Turkish broadcaster CNNTurk said Babacan plans to meet with his
Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts in New York on September 25
and 26 respectively on the sidelines of the UN summit.
The ministers are expected to meet both bilaterally and trilaterally
to mainly discuss settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.
Armenia said it is not against holding such a meeting. Armenia’s
foreign minister Edward Nalbandian also sounded optimistic about the
prospects of a solution in the long-running dispute between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, saying that such a solution would open up new possibilities
for regional cooperation in a press conference on Friday.
ARMENIA GIVES GREENLIGHT
"Mr. Babacan also proposed that a meeting should be organized in
a tripartite format. I am not against the organization of such a
meeting," Nalbandian said when asked about the possibility of a
trilateral meeting of three countries’ top diplomats.
The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia began in 1988 due to
Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20 percent of
Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven
surrounding districts. Some 10 percent of the Azeri population was
displaced due to a series of bloody clashes both between and within
the two neighboring countries.
In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
TURKEY’S PUSH FOR COUNCIL
Turkish officials also see this summit as one of the latest
opportunities to push for country’s bid to become a United Nations
Security Council member.
"I am going to explain (my counterparts) our demand for Council
membership for the 2009-10 term. I believe that Turkey’s, a country
who is not present in the Council for almost 50 years, election would
enhance our position and importance in the international relations,"
Gul told reporters in Ankara on Saturday before he left for the U.S.
He also said he does not know whether Armenian President Sarz Sargsyan
would attend the summit or not but there is no scheduled meeting
between two leaders. Two countries’ foreign ministers would meet,
he added.
A warmer period began between two neighbors, who do not have any
diplomatic relations for more than a decade, after Gul paid a landmark
visit to Armenia early September.
Turkey hopes this period would lead to normalization of the
relations. Turkey and Armenia do not have diplomatic relations because
of Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan.