, Turkey
Sept 5 2009
Armenia "to open Lachin corridor linking Karabakh" for Azerbaijan thaw
Armenia will demilitarize and open the Lachin corridor that connects
Karabakh to Armenia as a step for normalizing ties with Turkey, a
Turkish daily said.
Saturday, 05 September 2009 14:39
World Bulletin / News Desk
Armenia will demilitarize and open the Lachin corridor that connects
Karabakh to Armenia as a step for normalizing ties with Azerbaijan, a
Turkish daily said on Saturday.
Outside of the protocol between Turkey and Armenia, important steps
have been taken on the solution of Karabakh conflict. The Lachin
corridor connecting Karabakh to Armenia will be demilitarized and
opened to the world by Yerevan, Turkish daily Yenisafak said.
After a step that establishes diplomatic relations between Turkey and
Armenia, important steps have taken on the solution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem.
According to diplomatic sources, OSCE will send an observation team
for technical examination of the Lachin corridor in Karabakh in the
second half of September to the region.
Observation team’s mission report will note strategic importance of
the Lachin corridor to provide the link between Karabakh and
Armenia. It will expressed that Armenian troops’ withrawal from five
regions of the seven as important as to open the Lachin corridor in
the process of solution.
According to the roadmap for the solution of the Karabakh problem, the
new crossing point is expected to be the Commonwealth of Independent
States Summit on Oct. 5-7.
Azeri land has been under Armenian occupation in early 1990s in which
nearly 30,000 people died and 2 million were forced to flee their
homes. Shootings between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the region
remain common despite a 1994 cease fire.
Fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the area ended in 1994
when a ceasefire was signed. The two sides are still technically at
war because no peace treaty has been signed.
Turkey’s ties with Armenia
Turkey and Armenia announced a roadmap to normalise ties in April. But
Turkey has since said it would not open the frontier until Armenia
withdraws from occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.
A joint statement issued by Turkey, Armenia, and Switzerland on
Aug. 31 said that Turkey and Armenia agreed to start their internal
political consultations on the establishment of diplomatic ties and
development of bilateral relations.
The statement said internal political consultations over two
protocols, which had been agreed on under Swiss mediation, would be
completed within six weeks which would be followed by ratification at
Turkish and Armenian parliaments.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
