BORDER WITH ARMENIA TO STAY CLOSED, SAYS ERDOGAN

Asbarez
Apr 19th, 2010

ANKARA (Combined Sources)-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
said Sunday Turkey will keep its border with Armenia closed if the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unresolved.

Erdogan was quoted Monday by the Anatolia news agency as saying that
"if the occupation of (Nagorno Karabakh) continues, we will not take
such a step."

He made his remarks during a press conference where he sought to update
the media on his recent trip to Washington DC for US President Obama’s
Nuclear Summit. Erdogan met with Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian
on the sidelines of the trip for talks centered on their countries’
stalled diplomatic rapprochement.

The reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border is part of a US-brokered
accord the two countries signed in October to establish diplomatic
ties and needs parliamentary ratification to take effect.

In discussing his talks with Sarkisian, Erdogan said: "I think if
the Karabakh issue is solved, there will be no problems in opening
the Turkish-Armenian border. Therefore, the Minsk Group should step
up its work. I discussed the issue with the presidents of the United
States and Russia, Obama and Medvedev, in Washington, as well as with
President Sarkozy during my recent visit to Paris. But despite this,
they have been unable to achieve results for 20 years now."

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity
with Azerbaijan after the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic declared its
independence from Soviet Azerbaijan.

Erdogan also criticized Washington for not inviting Azerbaijan to the
Nuclear Security Summit held from April 12-13. "I told the American
administration openly that had Azerbaijan been among the participants,
we could have held meetings with six states, including the co-chairs
of the Minsk Group. That is, we would have had more active meetings
on all these issues."