ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN RELATIONS ARE TOO IMPORTANT IN CONTEXT OF ARMENIA-TURKEY RELATIONS, ERDOGAN DECLARES AT HIS MEETING WITH OBAMA

Noyan Tapan
Dec 8, 2009

WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 8, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. U.S. President
Barack Obama received Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
late in the December 7 evening. According to the Press Service of
the White House, during the meeting the two leaders also touched upon
the Armenian-Turkish dialogue and the Nagorno Karabakh settlement.

President Obama at a press briefing held after the meeting declared
that he welcomed the brave steps taken by Prime Minister Erdogan in
the issue of improvement of the Armenian-Turkish relations and called
the latter for moving forward in that direction.

The Turkish Prime Minister, in his turn, emphasized that the
Armenia-Azerbaijan relations are too important in the context of
Armenia-Turkey relations.

"We discussed Minsk Group’s activity, spoke about what the United
States, France and Russia can do to give a new spirit to the
negotiations. It will have a very positive impact on the whole process
as the improvement of the Armenian-Turkish contacts is essentially
connected with these issues," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

The same day Erdogan spoke at Johns Hopkins University on the subject
Turkey in the 21st Century: Restoration of Peace through Diplomacy
in which he declared: "Conflict’s settlement and liberation of
seven regions for the start, including Kelbajar and Lachin, with a
special status, will contribute to establishment of Armenian-Turkish
relations." He said that he had presented this position of Turkey to
the Presidents of the U.S. and Russia.

The U.S. President and Turkish Prime Minister also discussed the
situation in Afghanistan and the issue of Iran’s nuclear program.

According to Obama, Turkey is an important player in issues regarding
Iran. Erdogan answered that Ankara is ready in any way possible to
contribute to diplomatic settlement of Iran’s nuclear problem.