TURKISH, ARMENIAN FMS MEET FOR SHORT TALK IN LONDON

AZG DAILY
29-01-2010

Armenia-Turkey; Turkish press

LONDON – Hurriyet Daily News- Davutoglu-Nalbandian talks mark the
first face-to-face meeting after Armenia’s court ruling draws strong
criticism from Ankara. The ruling jeopardized the protocols that
were signed to begin normalization of diplomatic relations between
the two foes

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia held an impromptu meeting
Thursday at an international conference in London during which
Turkey relayed its concerns about the prospects of the two countries’
protocols.

The informal meeting marked the first face-to-face talk since an
Armenian court ruling drew strong criticism from Ankara, jeopardizing
the fate of the protocols that seek to normalize diplomatic relations
between the two old foes.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu once more expressed Turkey’s concerns
over the court ruling that refers to the 1915 killings of Armenians as
"genocide" and makes reference to eastern Turkey as "Western Armenia,"
diplomatic sources said. "The two sides had the chance to review
their well-known positions. There is no change," said one diplomat.

Davutoglu and Nalbandian agreed to meet on the sidelines of a security
conference next week in Munich, Germany, for more bilateral talks,
sources said. They also said that meanwhile Ankara was urging third
parties to prompt Armenia to indicate that the protocols’ content
will not be contradicted.

The two foreign ministers held a telephone conversation last week
with Ankara saying the court decision was against the spirit of the
accords on which the sides already reached an agreement.

Davutoglu held a 15-minute meeting Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton as soon as he landed in London, with their talks
focusing entirely on the Armenian court’s ruling, Turkish diplomats
told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review. Ankara communicated
its concerns to Washington and asked that these concerns be addressed.

Clinton also met separately with Nalbandian on Thursday.

On the plane from Istanbul to London, Davutoglu said Turkey signed
the protocols with Armenia to normalize Turkish-Armenian ties, help
Turks and Armenians eliminate their prejudices and maintain the
comprehensive peace in the Caucasus. "We do not want those visions
to be blurred. The court ruling is restrictive," he said.

Turkey is now working on a legal text that proves the court ruling’s
non-conformity with the protocols that will be sent to Switzerland,
which brokered the talks between the two countries, and to the
co-chairman of the Minsk Group, which is leading the Karabakh talks.

"Our views should be heard and our concerns should be removed,"
said Davutoglu.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday the deal between Ankara
and Yerevan to open their shared border and establish diplomatic
relations was under the growing threat of collapse.

Armenia is pushing for rapid ratification of the protocols, signed
in October, while Turkey has a longer time frame in mind, said
the report. On Wednesday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev added
concern about the deal by saying he was confident Turkey would not
ratify the agreement until Armenia has returned Nagorno-Karabakh,
an Azerbaijani territory occupied by Yerevan.

"There is a common understanding in the region that there should
be a first step by Armenia to start the liberation of the occupied
territories," Aliyev said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal
on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He
said he was "fully satisfied" with Turkey’s understanding of the issue,
despite harshly criticizing Turkey’s handling of it in the past.

"If the two issues are disconnected, then probably Armenia will
freeze negotiations with Azerbaijan [over Nagorno Karabakh]," said
Aliyev, adding that he believed economic pressure was one of the main
incentives for Armenia to come to the table. The leader has warned
previously that such an outcome could lead to renewed war.

Davutoglu will meet with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar
Mammadyarov, on Friday at the London conference. Diplomatic sources
said Ankara would inform Baku of its current position after the
Armenian court ruling.

The Turkish foreign minister was scheduled to meet with Clinton
again Thursday as the Daily News went to print. Davutoglu also held
talks with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, his Kazakh
counterpart and European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton