news.az, Azerbaijan
Nov 21 2009

Turkey makes recommendations on Karabakh to OSCE Minsk Group
Sat 21 November 2009 | 08:38 GMT Text size:

OSCE Minsk Group US, Russian and French representatives have completed
technical work to measure the Lachin corridor, a mountain pass within
the official borders of Azerbaijan that is the shortest route
connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh.

The foreign ministries of the countries have informed Ankara about the
completion of the work.

Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reports with reference to diplomatic
sources that Turkey has intensified its diplomatic activity on the
settlement of the Karabakh problem. Though the protocols signed
between Armenia and Turkey do not mention Nagorno-Karabakh, the issue
is the only stumbling block in the normalization of relations between
the two countries. Ankara has clearly said to Yerevan that
normalization of ties is out of the question without progress on
Karabakh, Hurriyet said.

Turkey has presented its recommendations on normalizing ties with
Armenia to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s
Minsk Group, which is mediating a settlement of the conflict:

1) The liberation of all seven occupied districts of Azerbaijan. At
the first stage, Armenia should withdraw its troops from Agdam,
Gubatli, Zengilan, Jebrail and Fizuli, while Kelbajar and Lachin
districts, lying between Karabakh and Armenia, will be liberated after
the status of the Lachin corridor has been settled and Azerbaijani
refugees have returned there.

2) The start of talks on peacekeeping forces and the status of
Nagorno-Karabakh.

3) The signing an interim agreement on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

All these issues will be discussed during negotiations between Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Armenian counterpart Eduard
Nalbandyan in Athens on 1-2 December within the framework of the OSCE
summit, and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov in
mid-December in Ankara. The newspaper also stresses the importance of
the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in Munich on 22
November.

Hurriyet