APA, Azerbaijan
June 6 2009

Hillary Clinton: `We believe a lot of progress has been made in
relatively short period of time to resolve the issues over Nagorno
Karabakh conflict, which are long standing’

[ 06 Jun 2009 11:30 ]

Washington. Zaur Hasanov `APA. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held a joint press
conference on Friday. Secretary Clinton said she held wide and
fruitful discussions with her Turkish counterpart, APA US bureau
reports.

The Secretary of State reminded that Turkey was among the countries
where she and President Obama made their first official visits. She
said US and Turkey were working together to solve number of problems
and there are new opportunities alongside with the problems. `Both
U.S. and Turkey have unique roles to play. We obviously already
collaborate. Not only we are both members of NATO but we are working
with G 20 to respond to the world global economic crisis. We are
exploring ways to enhance our trade and commerce between our two
countries. We are working to develop new energy sources including
resources from the Caucasus and Central Asia. We are partners in the
fight against terrorism’.

Clinton said US allied with Turkey in EU membership efforts and
struggling PKK. She said they were strongly supportive of Turkish
effort to normalize its relation with Armenia and we also very
strongly supportive of the efforts to resolve Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu called his visit to
Washington as a continuation of the Secretary Clinton and President
Obama’s visit to Turkey. He said both parts had constructive dialogue
on the issues of Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the
Caucasus and Black Sea Region.

Secretary Clinton answered the question about the Turkish-Armenian
relations after the announcement of roadmap in April and possibility
of the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict soon. `I have been very
encouraged by the progress has been made and by the commitment of the
governments involved. Certainly Turkey and Armenia with the assistance
of Swiss government have committed themselves to the process of
normalization. We are well aware that it is difficult and requires
patience. But we are seen no flagging of commitment. The minister and
I discussed the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia
at length. He brought me up to date on developments. We are continuing
to encourage the parties to proceed on the path which they themselves
have set. Similarly with ongoing negotiations over
Nagorno-Karabakh. The government of Azerbaijan and Armenia are
proceeding and working together. They just were together in Saint
Petersburg. We believe a lot of progress has been made in relatively
short period of time to resolve the issues which are long standing’.

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu thanked the US government for
its support for both processes. `We are very optimistic. We want to
achieve a prosperous, peaceful Caucasus. And in that sense, we are
fully committed to our normalization process with Armenia, and also,
we are fully committed and we are ready to work together with United
States and other co-chairs of Minsk Group for the resolution of
Armenian-Azerbaijani issues’.