TURKEY SHOULD FACILITATE PEACEKEEPING EFFORTS IN KARABAKH SETTLEMENT PROCESS – U.S. DIPLOMAT
Interfax
April 6 2009
Russia
The countries mediating in the settlement process on Nagorno-Karabakh
expect Turkey to facilitate the peacekeeping efforts in the region,
said Matthew Bryza, a U.S. assistant secretary of state and a co-chair
of the OSCE Minsk Group.
These countries believe that Turkey could help them as a country
playing a positive role in the region and hope for gradual improvement
in Turkish-Armenian, Armenian-Azeri, and Azeri-Armenian-Turkish
relations, Bryza said at a press conference in Baku on Friday.
As regards the possibility that the Turkish-Armenian border could be
opened, Bryza refrained from commenting on this issue, saying that
this is for Turkey and Armenia themselves to decide on as sovereign
countries.
Progress in relations between Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan would
have a positive effect on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process,
Bryza said.
The settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the improvement
of Armenian-Turkish relations should go simultaneously and stimulate
each other, he said.