TURKISH FM TO TRAVEL AZERBAIJAN TO DISCUSS REVIVING KARBAKH PROCESS
Anadolu Agency
May 25 2009
Turkey
TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER: MINSK GROUP FAILS TO MAKE PROGRESS IN
UPPER KARABAKH ISSUE, INTERNAL MECHANISM AGAINST CRISIS SHOULD BE
ESTABLISHED WITHIN OIC
DAMASCUS (A.A) -25.05.2009 -Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
said Sunday that the Minsk group failed to make any progress in the
solution of the Karabakh issue.
Davutoglu who is attending the 36th meeting of the OIC Council of
Foreign Ministers in Damascus told AA that he would travel to Baku
together with his Azarbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov and hold
meetings with Mammadyarov and Azarbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on
a wide range of issues including the Karabakh issue.
He said the Armenian occupation of Azarbaijani territory in Upper
[Nagornyy] Karabakh had been going on for 17 years adding that it
was hard to disagree with Aliyev’s remarks about performance of the
Minsk group.
"The historic record shows it. There has been no progress. It is
time to revive this process. Turkey will continue its efforts,"
said Davutoglu.
Davutoglu said Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsian would
meet in numerous occasions and expressed his wish that those meetings
would bring a solution in a way that would please all parties.
Davutoglu also said that an internal mechanism within Organization
of the Islamic Conference for preventing and countering crisis was
necessary.
Davutoglu who is attending the 36th meeting of the OIC Council of
Foreign Ministers in Damascus, told AA that there was a lot the OIC
could do to prevent conflicts among the Muslim countries, noting that
a mechanism comprising of experts could prevent or contain crisis.
He said the OIC should be the first to intervene in crisis in the
Muslim community, as this was the very foundation principle of this
organization.
"Secretary General Prof Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu called for
establishment of such a mechanism. Turkey supports this call,"
said Davutoglu.
Davutoglu said the formation of a peace force within the OIC could
be discussed in later stages, adding that the mechanism for crisis
prevention could intervene in problems between Muslim states or Muslim
minorities and their governments.
Davutoglu said Turkey made major contributions to prevention of crisis
in many cases, through use of soft power, adding that it could play
an important role within that mechanism.