Trend, Azerbaijan
Dec 3 2009

Turkish Minister for EU Affairs confirms the necessity of solving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Belgium, Brussels, December 2/ Trend News, Tarek Mahmoud/

The Turkish Minister for EU Affairs, Egemen Bagis confirmed today the
necessity of solving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan.

"Turkey was the first country to recognize the independence of Armenia
after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but when Armenia invaded
Karabakh, we had to close our borders" he said to the members of the
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament.

"The Azerbaijanis are our brothers and it will be difficult to
normalize the people to people relations between Turkey and Armenia
without finding a breakthrough to this problem", he added.

The two protocols on establishing diplomatic relations and opening the
common border which had been signed by Armenia and Turkey in Zurich on
10 October 2009 had been submitted by Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan to the parliament for ratification.

Bagis insisted that Turkey will continue playing a peaceful role in
the South Caucasus region and noted that the rapprochement between
Turkey and Armenia will be beneficial for the whole region.

Asked about the possibility of the ratification of the two protocols,
he explained that the Turkish Prime Minister is defending the process
of the ratification, but he expects fierce debates inside the
parliament on that issue.