TURKEY SOLVES ARMENIAN ISSUE: TURKISH PRESIDENT
Trend
Nov 23 2009
Azerbaijan
Ankara has resolved the Kurdish and Armenian issues, Turkish President
Abdullah Gul said in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa,
the Turkish newspaper Yeni Chag reported.
Turkey has resolved the Armenian and Kurdish problem, Gul said.
Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward
Nalbandian signed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols in Zurich Oct. 10.
Turkey and Armenia in talks mediated by Switzerland reached an
agreement to launch "domestic political consultations" Aug. 31 to
sign the Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations and
Protocol on the Development of Bilateral Relations, the Turkish
Foreign Ministry reported.
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.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. –
are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Ankara will never take steps against Azerbaijan’s interests, Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview with local
press Oct.10.
The occupied Azerbaijani territories should be liberated.
The day after signing the protocols Davutoglu called the liberation
of the occupied Azerbaijani territories an important condition for
establishing relations with Armenia in an interview with the TRT1
Turkish television station.
According to Gul, Ankara has done everything in its power to improve
relations with Armenia and now expects the same from Yerevan.