Trend, Azerbaijan
Oct 23 2009
Ankara’s principal goal in Caucasus is armistice in Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict: Turkish Permanent Representative to UN
USA, Washington, October 23 / Trend News N. Bogdanova /
Turkish goal is to reach peace in Nagorno-Karabakh issue as soon as
possible, Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations,
Ertugrul Apakan, told Trend News.
Speaking about the past developments with Ankara’s participation in
South Caucasus Turkish diplomat pointed out that these processes put
additional responsibility on all countries of the region.
"Turkey’s responsibility is to play either the role of mediator or the
easing role in the processes of conflict resolution. Armenia’s
responsibility is to make more steps towards peace in the current
situation", Apakan said.
Apakan is sure that Turkey will be able to solve the problems between
Azerbaijan and Armenia. He stressed that Ankara is trying to take upon
itself responsibility not only in Caucasus, but also, other
neighborhood regions, including Middle East, Balkans and etc.
"We never had any other intensions. Especially while speaking about
Azerbaijan, we never live our brothers alone on half of the way", he
said.
The Turkish government said that the protocols on normalization of
relations between Ankara and Yerevan signed on October 10 are aimed to
solve conflicts in Caucasus, first, Nagorno-Karabakh one.
Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey have been broken due
to Armenia’s claims of an alleged genocide, and its occupation of
Azerbaijani lands. The border between them has been broken since 1993.
Turkish ambassador again stressed that Turkey is waiting for the
soonest resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.The countries of the
region should make steps towards each other.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7
districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed
a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia,
France, and the U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations.