OSCE MG FRENCH COCHAIRMAN ASKS TURKEY NOT TO LINK TURKEY-ARMENIA TRACK WITH NAGORNO-KARABAKH TALKS

ArmInfo
2009-05-20 12:54:00

ArmInfo. The Turkey-Armenia track has no link to the Nagorno- Karabakh
talks, according to the French co-chairman of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, Minsk Group. He implied
that Ankara’s request from Yerevan to withdraw from Azerbaijani
territory in return for opening the border would spoil the regional
parameters, OSCE MG French Co-chairman Bernard Fassier said in Ankara.

According to the Turkish media, B. Fassier said, in particular:
"We consider [the Turkey- Armenia talks and Nagorno-Karabakh process]
as parallel lines, and according to Euclidian geometry, parallel lines
never cross. But, there are interactions. The historic reconciliation
between Turkey and Armenia could affect the environment positively
but not Nagorno-Karabakh talks," Bernard Fassier said Monday at a
luncheon with a limited group of journalists.

Fassier, on the eve of a crucial meeting between Armenian and
Azerbaijani leaders early next month in St. Petersburg, visited Ankara
as a last stop of a regional tour that included Yerevan and Baku. He
held meetings at the Foreign Ministry just a week after Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would not open its border with
Armenia unless Yerevan ends its occupation on Azerbaijani territory.

In contradiction to Fassier’s description of "parallel lines,"
Ankara considers only one track is able to achieve a comprehensive
settlement in the region. "If by mistake an unfortunate mix of these
talks might only make things more difficult," Fassier said. According
to Turkish sources, Fassier asked Turkey not to link these two issues,
especially at a time when the international community has increased
its pressure on the parties to compromise for a solution.

Turkey and Armenia announced a road map on April 22 that would
bring about the unconditional normalization of ties. But as a result
of Azerbaijan’s overreaction to the process, Ankara had to declare
that it is ready to open the border with Armenia in return for the
withdrawal of Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh. There were
unconfirmed reports that Armenia could withdraw from five regions
out of seven surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

But for Fassier, the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the regions
should not be expected in the short-term as "there has to be a full
settlement allowing the changing of all parameters comprehensively."

"We are not trying to reach forthe moon, but to solve what is
possible to solve today," he said, adding that the Minsk Group
has so far proposed to establish an interim situation that would
not constitute casus belli (justification for acts of war) for any
of the countries. The further stages and the final status of the
Nagorno-Karabakh would be reasonably settled afterward.