WILL ARMENIA SIGN DOCUMENTS WITH TURKEY?

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[01:01 pm] 19 September, 2008

As early as September 7 in Yerevan we arranged with the Turkish Foreign
Minister to meet in New York on the sidelines of the 63rd session
of the UN General Assembly. Mr. Babacan suggested organising another
meeting in a trilateral format," said Armenia’s FM Edward Nalbandian
when commenting on Turkey’s mediation in the disputed three-way meeting
between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.

According to Turkish media, some document is going to be signed during
the upcoming meeting with Ali Babacan in New York. The Armenian FM
was asked to comment on the authenticity of the information.

"Upon the instruction of the Presidents of Armenia and Turkey,
as a result of the talks with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Babacan,
we declared about our resoluteness to fully normalise the bilateral
relations and we are trying to make steps in this direction. I hope
we will move along that way without creating artificial obstacles
fro each other," said Mr. Nalbandian.

Asked about the changes of the OSCE Minsk Group format, Mr. Nalbandian
said," The Minsk Group is the acting format of resolving the Karabakh
conflict. The Group enjoys the real support of the international
community. The negotiations continue on the basis of the proposals of
the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. I think that today good preconditions
exist for the conflict resolution, which can open new opportunities
for regional cooperation for all countries.

According to the information disseminated by Azeri media, OSCE Minsk
Group US Co-Chair Matthew Bryza declared in Baku that Turkey can have
its contribution to the process of the Karabakh conflict settlement
and help Armenia demonstrate more flexible position. The Armenian
FM said in this view: "If we believe in the citations of Azerbaijani
media, then most probably Mr. Bryza incorrectly used the word Armenia
instead of Azerbaijan, since Turkey can use its influence for making
Azerbaijan’s position more flexible, deriving from the reality that
Azerbaijani leaders have many times described the relations between
Azerbaijan and Turkey as "one nation-two states. And I think that any
rumors about Turkey’s alleged influence on Armenia in this context
are apparent exaggeration."