SERZH SARGSYAN INTENDS TO INVITE ILHAM ALIYEV TO POTENTIAL OPENING OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER
PanARMENIAN.Net
10.02.2010 20:15 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Attempts to link the normalization of Armenia-Turkey
relations to the talks around the Karabakh issue will undermine both
processes, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in his speech at
Chatham House, Royal Institute of International Affairs.
"I, however, believe that the rapid normalization of Armenia-Turkey
relations can set an example of a proactive problem-solving attitude
that will positively stimulate and set an example the resolution of
the Karabakh conflict.
"I would like to take one step further and inform you that I am going
to invite President Aliyev to the potential opening ceremony of the
Armenian-Turkish border. I believe it can serve as an essential and
in some ways exemplary measure for the region, which will clearly
demonstrate how existing problems should be solved," Armenian leader
stated.
The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in
1988 as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the
final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from
1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, NKR and
Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan
around it (the security zone) remain under the control of NKR defense
army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the
OSCE Minsk Group up till now.