BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO TURKEY BELIEVES THAT BAKU AND YEREVAN SHOULD HURRY

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.08.2009 20:23 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ British Ambassador to Turkey Nick Baird completing
his diplomatic mission, in an interview to Turkish Hurriyet, said
that after successful resolutions of the Kurdish, Armenian and Cyprus
issues, the region could attain a long-term stability.

According to the British Ambassador, the efforts of the Turkey’s
government to normalize relations with neighboring Armenia were very
brave, but this process was blocked by Ankara, due to pressure from
the official Azerbaijan because of the unresolved Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. Normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations can be
successful only after a tangible progress in the Karabakh problem
settlement, Nick Baird said.

Commenting the attempts of Ankara to link the opening of the
Armenian-Turkish border with Nagorno Karabakh issue, Nick Baird
particularly said: "I did not really think that the Turkey’s government
has a big choice. Turkey has good relations with Azerbaijan, and it
is also trying to normalize its relations with Armenia. But you can
not sacrifice one thing for the other. I think that for the sake of
progress in regional stability joint efforts should be made".

He also said: "We will strongly encourage the United States and
the OSCE Minsk Group to ensure that agreements between Armenia and
Azerbaijan are reached now".