ARMENIA SAYS NAGORNY KARABAKH ‘SEPARATE’ FROM TURKEY RELATIONS

The FINANCIAL
May 22 2009
Georgia

The FINANCIAL — YEREVAN, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said on
May 22 that Armenian-Turkish ties should be kept separate from the
Nagorny Karabakh conflict.

Turkey is a key ally of Armenia’s neighbor Azerbaijan in the conflict
between the two ex-Soviet states over Nagorny Karabakh, a disputed
region in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian population.

"Relations between Armenia and Turkey are a separate issue, discussed
during bilateral talks, while negotiations on the Nagorny Karabakh are
a different topic for discussions," Sargsyan told a news conference
after a meeting with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic in Yerevan.

The Armenian leader said Turkey still had a chance to convince the
international community and the Armenian people that it was a modern
country, which conducts its policies on the basis of international law.

Sargsyan and Turkish leader Abdullah Gul met in Prague in May and
agreed to try to rebuild relations within a reasonable timeframe and
without any preconditions.

Armenia and Turkey 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 this year.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support
for Azerbaijan following a bloody conflict over Nagorny Karabakh. Over
35,000 people died in fighting over the area in the early 1990s before
a ceasefire was signed in 1994. Nagorny Karabakh technically remains
part of Azerbaijan, but has its own de facto government.