FRANCE: TURKEY-ARMENIA TALKS NOT LINKED TO KARABAKH DISPUTE

armradio.am
23.07.2009 11:35

The statement from France, one of the three countries leading
international efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem in
the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE), followed remarks by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
in Baku last week that there will be no normalization in ties with
Armenia unless Armenia withdraws from Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations and the resolution
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are two different processes that
should proceed on parallel tracks and in their own rhythm," the French
Embassy said in a statement. It said progress on one of these tracks
will positively influence the situation in the South Caucasus.

"France supports and encourages rapprochement between Turkey and
Armenia," the statement said, vowing to continue to work for the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute together with the United
States and Russia, the other members of the Minsk Group.

The embassy statement came days after the French co-chairman of the
Minsk Group, Ambassador Bernard Fassier, visited Ankara on a tour of
the region.

Before coming to Ankara, Fassier reiterated in Baku that the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement efforts and the Turkish-Armenian
normalization talks were parallel but separate processes, Today’s
Zaman reported.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress