BRITISH DIPLOMAT NOTES LACK OF CLARITY IN ARMENIAN-TURKISH TIES

Mediamax
May 14 2009
Armenia

14 May: British Foreign Office Special Representative for the South
Caucasus Brian Fall said in Yerevan today that "if we look at the
process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish ties through foreign observers’
eyes, we will see that there is not 100-per-cent clarity in it".

Fall said this at a briefing while commenting on Turkish Prime Minister
[Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s] statement made in Baku on 13 May.

At the same time, the British diplomat pointed out that "answers
to all questions should be found in Yerevan and Baku" and the
sides should continue the dialogue in order to eliminate "possible
misunderstandings".

"We welcome the signs of rapprochement in relations between Armenia
and Turkey. We would like to see decisive steps taken by Armenia and
Azerbaijan this year to settle the Karabakh conflict," Fall said.

Answering the question on Turkey’s intensifying role in regional
processes, the British Foreign Office Special Representative for
the South Caucasus said that "the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk
Group remains the main driving force, supporting the efforts of the
Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents".

"As for Turkey, this country plays a big role in regional developments,
however, one should not consider it as an alternative mediator
mechanism in the Karabakh conflict settlement," Fall said.