OBAMA URGES ARMENIA, TURKEY TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS

Aysor
April 13 2010
Armenia

U.S. President Barack Obama urged Armenia and Turkey to "make every
effort" to advance the normalization of relations between the two
nations, the White House spokesperson said.

"U.S. President Barack Obama commended President Sargsyan of Armenia
for his courageous efforts to achieve normalization of relations
between Armenia and Turkey and encouraged him to fulfill the promise
of normalization for the benefit of the Armenian people," the White
House said in a statement, following the closed-door meeting between
the officials within the framework of the Washington Nuclear Security
Summit.

U.S. and Armenian Presidents also discussed process of settlement to
the Karabakh conflict, Armenia’s State Administration, in its turn,
said in the statement.

Earlier President Serzh Sargsyan met Monday with Turkey’s Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is also on a visit to Washington
to attend the nuclear safety summit.

Process of Armenia-Turkey reconciliation has been starting since
October 2009, when Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers signed in
Zurich protocols on normalisation of relations.