TURKISH PRESIDENT URGES "POSITIVE CLIMATE" WITH ARMENIA
Anatolia News Agency
Sept 25 2008
Turkey
New York, 26 September: The Turkish president said on Thursday that
his aim was to create a positive climate between Turkey and Armenia.
Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul said that he wanted that climate to
eliminate problems between the two countries.
"I am very hopeful about this," he said in a meeting organized by
the American-Turkish Society in New York.
Gul said that Turkey and Armenia did not have diplomatic relations,
and their borders were closed although Turkey was one of the first
countries recognizing Armenia’s independence.
"However, two countries have had humanitarian activities," Gul said
and gave Turkey’s wheat assistance to Armenia in 1990s as an example.
Gul said thousands of Armenian citizens were working in Turkey due to
economic reasons, there were flights and cultural activities between
the two countries.
"My recent visit (to Armenia) was for a soccer game, but I did not only
watch the game with Mr [Serzh] Sargsyan (the Armenian President). We
had the opportunity to discuss bilateral relations, Caucasus and
Azerbaijan," he said.
Gul underlined necessity of solving regional problems through dialogue,
and expressed his hope that everything would normalize in the end.
President Gul also said that one of indicators that relations would
normalize one ay was the trilateral meeting the foreign ministers of
Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia would hold in New York on Friday.
"What leaders should do is to eliminate problems, not to feed
enmities," Gul also said.
Gul said that many projects could be carried out between Turkey and
Armenia, like establishing industrial zones at the border, after
problems were solved.