TURKISH PM, ARMENIAN PRESIDENT HOLD USEFUL TALKS IN DAVOS

Hurriyet
Jan 30 2009
Turkey

Armenia’s president said Thursday he had "very useful" talks with
Turkey’s prime minister at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland. (UPDATED)

Serzh Sargsyan said he had a "positive signal" Turkish Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan during rare talks between the two neighbors.

"I’ve seen a willingness of the prime minister to solve our issues. I
think this is a positive signal," Sargsyan was quoted by AP as
telling reporters.

Sarkisian would not give details about the talks which took place
minutes after Erdogan stormed out of an angry debate on the Gaza war
with Israel’s President Shimon Peres at the Davos forum.

The Armenian presidency also said on Friday the meeting was
"positive". "President Sargsyan and Prime Minister Erdogan considered
their first meeting as positive and charged the foreign ministers of
both countries to put additional efforts into normalizing relations,"
AFP quoted the presidency as saying in a statement.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations and their border
has been closed for more than a decade, as Armenia presses the
international community with the backing of the diaspora to admit
the so-called "genocide" claims instead of accepting Turkey’s call
to investigate the allegations, and Armenia’s invasion of 20 percent
territory of Azerbaijan.

A warmer period began in relations when Turkish President Abdullah
Gul paid a landmark visit to Yerevan in September to watch a World Cup
qualifying football match between the two countries on the invitation
of Sargsyan. The two countries have been holding contacts at the
minister level since.