Central Asia General Newswire
July 19, 2017 Wednesday 4:52 PM MSK


Turkish foreign minister demands OSCE Minsk Group make more active
efforts toward settling Karabakh conflict

 BAKU. July 19

Ankara calls on the OSCE Minsk Group for settling the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh to intensify its efforts, Turkish Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

"We demand that Armenia stop shelling [populated localities in
Azerbaijan] and reiterate the necessity of withdrawing Armenian troops
from occupied Azerbaijani lands. We stand ready to always support
Azerbaijan and demand that the OSCE Minsk Group make more active
efforts to settle the conflict," Cavusoglu said at a press conference
in Baku on Wednesday.

The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan
discussed political cooperation at a meeting in Baku on Wednesday,
Cavusoglu said. "But our economic matters are also important. We have
a decline in trade with some countries. The construction of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway corridor is nearing completion, and trains
should start operating on this railroad in the fall," he said.

All three countries are "interested in strengthening economic
cooperation," he said.

"Today's meeting was aimed at preparing a summit in Ashgabat, but we
will hold preparatory meetings for the summit before this, at which
various agreements will be signed," he said.