PHILIP GORDON: "THE NAGORNO KARABAKH PROCESS IS GOING AHEAD"

APA
30 Sep 2009 10:47

Washington. Zaur Hasanov – APA. US Assistant Secretary of State
for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon held a briefing for
journalists on readout on the meetings of Azerbaijani, Armenian and
Turkish foreign ministers with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
within the UN General Assembly 64th session, APA reports.

Gordon said in the meeting with Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov
of Azerbaijan, Secretary Clinton underscored the United States
continued strong support for the Nagorno-Karabakh process. He said
also in the meeting was US new Minsk Group co-chair – that is to say,
representative to those talks Ambassador Robert Bradtke, a highly
experienced diplomat whose designation in this job underscores how keen
the United States are to see progress on that front. The Secretary
also raised the case of the Azerbaijani bloggers who were recently
arrested and she underscored US interest in seeing an open and fair
process, said Gordon.

According to Gordon, Secretary Clinton met with Armenian Foreign
Minister Nalbandian and stressed US strong support for the continued
Turkey-Armenia normalization process. She made clear that, for the
United States, that is a process that should move forward without
preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe. She also raised the
issue of democratization in Armenia. In the meeting with the Turkish
Foreign Minister Davutoglu they talked about Cyprus, energy security,
Afghanistan-Pakistan, Iran, Middle East peace, and probably some
other issues.

Philip Gordon refused to make any comments about signings or schedules
of protocols between Armenia and Turkey, which were going to sign a
deal on October 10. "There are things still to be finalized as to the
details of a signature and submission to parliament, said the Assistant
Secretary. "This is a difficult process that faces some political
opposition in both places, and it’s hard for both governments. We
welcome the proces that’s what we’re underscoring when we say that".

When the Turkish journalist asked "Just to spell out preconditions,
you mean that the Armenians don’t stipulate that the Turks recognize
the genocide?" Gordon answered: "I mean, no preconditions means
no preconditions on either side. There are lots of things that one
could try to link this process to, and what we are saying is that the
process is inherently valuable, that we think that Turkey-Armenian
normalization is a good thing, and it shouldn’t wait for other
things to get done or be linked to other things; it should go
ahead. I mentioned in the context of the Secretary’s meeting with
the Azerbaijani foreign minister the Nagorno-Karabakh process, which
is also going ahead. If we could succeed on these multiple tracks,
we would really take a major step towards peace and stability in the
Caucasus, energy corridor across the Caucasus, and prosperity in the
region. So that’s why we strongly support these".

Gordon added that Turkish-Armenian normalization was not an initiative
by the United States and it was initiated just by Turkey and Armenia.