ARMENIA, TURKEY REAFFIRM COMMITMENT TO IMPROVE TIES

RIA Novosti
May 8, 2009 Friday 11:41 AM GMT+3

The presidents of Armenia and Turkey agreed at talks in Prague to
try to rebuild relations within a reasonable timeframe and without
any preconditions, the Armenian leader’s press office said on Friday.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Turkish leader Abdullah Gul met
in Prague on Thursday as part of efforts to tackle their long-running
dispute over Nagorny Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian region located
within the borders of Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan.

"The presidents of Armenia and Turkey gave a positive assessment
to their Prague meeting, where they agreed to stick to existing
understandings and continue efforts to improve bilateral relations
without any preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe," the
press office said.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support
for Azerbaijan following a bloody conflict over Nagorny Karabakh
between the two ex-Soviet Caucasus republics. Turkey earlier refused
to open the border until the dispute has been resolved. Ankara has
also demanded Yerevan drop its campaign to have the mass killings
of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 internationally recognized
as genocide.

This was the presidents’ second meeting and came after Gul’s visit
to Armenia last fall.

The two countries have had no diplomatic relations since the Soviet
Union broke up in 1991. However, they agreed to a "roadmap" to
normalize their relations under Swiss mediation in April.

Sargsyan also met with Azerbaijani Presidents Ilham Aliyev on Thursday
in Prague, agreeing on the basic principles of a settlement of the
Nagorny Karabakh issue.

Sargsyan and Aliyev were in Prague to attend a EU Eastern Partnership
summit designed to offer political and economic aid to former Soviet
republics and ease their energy dependence on Russia.

Both leaders also had separate meetings with U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton in Washington recently. Clinton urged them to resolve
the Nagorny Karabakh dispute.

Nagorny Karabakh and ties with Armenia will also dominate Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Russia, a mediator in
the feud, on May 16.