ANKARA PLEDGES CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR OSCE MINSK PROCESS

Today’s Zaman
May 19 2009
Turkey

A visit to Ankara by one of the three co-chairpersons of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk
Group of countries mediating the talks between Yerevan and Baku for
resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute has given the Turkish capital
the chance to express its continued support for the process.

Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France was in Ankara yesterday for
several meetings including one with Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan,
the undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry. This was Fassier’s first
visit to the Turkish capital in his capacity as a co-chairperson of
the OSCE Minsk Group — a post he assumed in 2004.

The other two co-chairpersons are Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov of the
Russian Federation and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew
Bryza of the United States.

"Yesterday’s meeting between Apakan and Fassier focused on exchanging
views concerning the current phase in the process of resolving the
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute in the light of a recent meeting between the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which took place in Prague on
May 7," Today’s Zaman learned from reliable sources close to the talks.

"During the meeting with Fassier, the Turkish side reiterated its
continued support of the OSCE Minsk Group as a permanent member that
had been there from its inception," Today’s Zaman learned from the
same sources.

Fassier’s visit to Ankara came after his meetings in Baku and
Yerevan and days after the ongoing Turkish-Armenian reconciliation
process appeared to encounter problems on Friday; Armenian leaders
criticized Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a visit to
Baku, for making the normalization of ties with Armenia conditional
on a settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh, and urged him not to interfere
in the settlement process.

"The president said, as he repeatedly pointed out during the
Armenian-Turkish meetings, that any Turkish attempt to interfere in
the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem can only harm that
process," a statement said.

The statement was released by Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan’s
office after a meeting between Sarksyan and Brian Fall, Britain’s
special representative for the South Caucasus. Sarksyan said at the
meeting that if Turkey wants to contribute to a peaceful settlement
to the conflict, then "it had better not meddle in the process of
conflict resolution at all."

While speaking to reporters over the weekend in Baku ahead of
his departure for Ankara, Fassier was quoted by the Azerbaijani
media as saying: "This is one of the usual discussions between the
members of the Minsk Group France and Turkey. We will discuss all
current issues. There have recently been many visits from Turkey to
Azerbaijan. We will discuss them."

Normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations should not be confused
with Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, Fassier said, adding: "These are
different and parallel processes."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress