PM: TURKEY TO OPEN BORDER IF ARMENIA STOPS OCCUPATION OF UPPER KARABAKH

Xinhua General News Service
May 9, 2009 Saturday 8:55 PM EST
China

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that
Turkey would open its border with Armenia if Yerevan stopped its
occupation of Upper Karabakh.

In an interview with state-run broadcaster TRT, Erdogan said it was
the precondition to open the border gate with Armenia.

He claimed that there were no problems in relations between Turkey
and Azerbaijan.

On Friday, newly-appointed Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
welcomed the progress made in a meeting between Azerbaijani and
Armenian leaders in Prague, who have agreed on basic peace principles
concerning the contested region of Upper Karabakh.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart Serzh
Sargsyan reached an agreement Thursday over "basic concepts of peace"
in the dispute, mediators of the Prague meeting said.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan
during its conflict with Armenia over the Upper Karabakh region.