The Moscow Times
Jan 15 2010

Lavrov Backs Armenia

15 January 2010

YEREVAN, Armenia ‘ Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday urged
Armenia and Turkey to move ahead with a historic rapprochement, and
Yerevan said it hoped that Ankara was not blocking ratification of
their deal to end a century of hostility.

The accords need parliamentary ratification, a step that Turkey says
depends on Armenia making concessions in a festering conflict with
Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia rejects the link, and won the backing of Lavrov. `To try and
artificially link those two issues is, in my opinion, not correct,’
Lavrov told reporters in Yerevan.

(Reuters)