TURKEY’S PENDING ISSUES WITH ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN SHOULD BE SETTLED TOGETHER, SAYS ERDOGAN SAYS

Qatar News Agency
April 9, 2009 Thursday 5:22 PM EST

Ankara, April 09 (QNA) – Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
on Thursday said that it was impossible to solve the pending issues
between his country and Armenia unless other issues between Armenia
and Azerbaijan were settled, referring to the Armenian- Azeri dispute
over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations, and their border
has been closed in 1993 over Armenia’s invasion of territory that
accounts for 20 percent of Azerbaijan ? a frozen conflict legacy of
the Soviet Union known as Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev didn’t take part in the 2nd Forum
for Civilizations Alliance which was held in Istanbul, due to tense
ties with Turkey.