TURKEY SEEKS FOUR-WAY SUMMIT ON KARABAKH CONFLICT
Asbarez
ey-seeks-four-way-summit-on-karabakh-conflict/
May 8th, 2009
ANKARA (Today’s Zaman)-Turkey is seeking a summit of Turkish, Russian,
Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders to discuss endeavors for a resolution
to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
sources quoting President Abdullah Gul as saying Friday.
Since negotiations to normalize relations between Armenia and Turkey
began last September, Ankara’s has sought to align its conflict
with Armenia with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, paving the way for
its inclusion into the Karabakh peace process. This is seen by many
commentators and analysts close to the issue as a way to make the
merger of the two separate processes seem like a practical option
for an international community desperately seeking a quick solution
to both issues.
Gul planned to step up efforts for the four-way summit after he met
with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh
Sarkisian in Prague on Thursday.
His meetings came two weeks after Ankara and Yerevan announced that
they had "identified a roadmap" for establishing diplomatic relations
and reopening the Turkish-Armenian border.The roadmap, kept largely
secret from the public, is reported to include a series of conditions
Armenia must meet before diplomatic relations are established between
the two countries. Those requirements call for the establishment of a
joint commission of historians, the recognition of Turkey’s territorial
borders, and the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Gul revealed his plans to Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist
Movement Party (MHP), during a meeting on Wednesday, sources at the
MHP told Today’s Zaman.
According to Zaman, Gul told Bahceli that Aliyev is constantly kept
informed about the talks with Armenia and reminded the nationalist
leader that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to visit Baku
next week for talks with Azerbaijani leaders.
Gul also said that Russia also plays a key role in the region and that
it cannot be excluded from efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Russia, which has been unusually silent on the issue,
is one of the three co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group
mediating the conflict.
Erdogan is scheduled to visit Russia for talks with his Russian
counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on May 16. Before the prime ministerial
talks, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is expected to meet with his
Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Washington on the sidelines of a
ministerial meeting of UN Security Council member countries. Erdogan’s
visit to Russia is expected to be a main issue on the agenda of
the talks.
Gul said the venue and date of the proposed four-way summit
will become clear after the talks Gul and Erdogan will have with
Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian leaders. If realized, the summit is
also likely to tackle Russian-Georgian ties. The tension between the
two countries, which fought a brief war over the breakaway region of
South Ossetia last summer, has recently escalated again due to NATO
military exercises in Georgia that kicked off this week. Armenia,
which was slated to participate, pulled out of those exercises days
before they kicked off.
Erdogan, meanwhile, is expected to meet with political leaders and
representatives of opposition parties during his visit to Baku. He has
also told Aliyev that he wants to address the Azerbaijani parliament
and give the lawmakers first-hand information about the normalization
process with Armenia.