TURKEY, ARMENIA CONTINUE NEGOTIATIONS TO IMPROVE TIES
Xinhua
June 24 2009
China
ANKARA, June 24 (Xinhua) — Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak
Ozugergin said on Wednesday that Turkey and Armenia are continuing
their negotiations at various levels in a bid to improve bilateral
ties.
"We are discussing all issues with Armenia, and the principles we
set are quite important," said Ozugergin at a press conference in
the Turkish capital of Ankara.
He said that there was also an ongoing process between Azerbaijan
and Armenia, and both processes were affecting each other.
He referred to the recent remarks of the presidents of Azerbaijan
and Armenia that they had reached a compromise that a progress was
necessary and the shuttle democracy should be maintained.
Ozugergin said Turkey was supporting the solution of Upper Karabakh
dispute through peaceful means, adding that a positive course of the
process would contribute to the peace and stability in the Caucasus.
The spokesman also said that Turkey would support any positive
development or step in the Minsk process.
"Settlement of Upper Karabakh problem will restore stability in the
region, and make it sustainable," Ozugergin said.
He also said that Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu might meet
with foreign ministers of other countries, including his Armenian
counterpart Eduard Nalbandyan, in the Greek island of Corfu during
an informal meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) this weekend.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan
during its conflict with Armenia over the Upper Karabakh region.
Armenia claims that more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in
a systematic genocide in the hands of the Ottomans during World War
I before modern Turkey was born in 1923.
But Turkey insists that the Armenians were victims of widespread chaos
and governmental breakdown as the 600-year-old empire collapsed in
the years before 1923.