, Turkey
April 9 2010

US invites Armenia to "nuclear" summit, not Azerbaijan

A senior Turkish diplomat arrived in the Azerbaijani capital to relay
a special letter of Erdogan to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
Friday, 09 April 2010 14:51

A senior Turkish diplomat arrived in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku
on Friday to relay a special letter of Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Feridun Sinirlioglu, the undersecretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of Turkey, met Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

Sinirlioglu is expected to meet President Ilham Aliyev later on Friday.

The diplomat earlier visited Armenia.

Diplomatic sources said Sinirlioglu would brief Azerbaijani executives
on his meetings in Armenia, and learn about their views before a
nuclear security summit Erdogan would participate in Washington, D.C.
on April 12 and 13.

The same sources said Azerbaijan was not invited to that summit
because only the countries that had nuclear programs were invited.

They said Ankara felt uneasy over Washington’s inviting Armenia, but
not inviting Azerbaijan to the summit, and this uneasiness had been
expressed to the U.S. administration.

Sinirlioglu earlier this week visited the Armenian capital of Yerevan,
as Erdogan’s special envoy, to meet Armenian President Serzh Sargsian
and Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian.

Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols on October 10, 2009 to resume
diplomatic relations and open their border crossing.

After years of no diplomatic contacts, Turkish President Abdullah Gul
travelled to Yerevan to watch a soccer game between Turkish and
Armenian national teams in September 2008.

The Armenian president came to Turkey to watch the return game in 2009.

AA