Hürriyet, Turkey
May 2 2009
Clinton to meet Azeri, Armenian counterparts in Washington
ISTANBUL – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet her
Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts in Washington next week as part
of diplomatic efforts aimed at solving long-standing disputes in the
southern Caucasus, according to reports on Saturday. (UPDATED)
Clinton will meet Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian on
Monday and Azeri top diplomat Elmar Mammadyarov on Tuesday,
broadcaster CNNTurk reported.
The talks are expected to focus on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
the normalization process between Ankara and Yerevan.
Turkey and Armenia, under Switzerland’s mediation, agreed last month
on a "road map" deal for talks that could lead to the normalizing of
ties and the opening of their border.
Ankara cut diplomatic links with Yerevan and closed the border in a
show of support to Azerbaijan in 1993 after 20 percent of its
territory was invaded by Armenia in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh
region.
Clinton has hailed the announcement of the road map as a historic step
toward normal relations between Turkey and Armenia.
She will meet Mammadyarov and Nalbandian to lay the groundwork for the
meeting between Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s
President Serzh Sargsyan on May 7 in Prague, U.S. Deputy Assistant
Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza,
the State Department’s point man in the Caucasus, told CNNTurk.
As part of the diplomacy traffic among Washington, Ankara, Baku and
Yerevan, U.S. President Barack Obama, who has extended his support to
the normalization process between Ankara and Yerevan, telephoned last
month Aliyev.
Clinton and U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden had also phone talks with
high-level Armenian officials.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
