TURKEY’S BABACAN ANNOUNCES PROGRESS IN TALKS WITH ARMENIA
Southeast European Times
April 9 2009
ANKARA, Turkey –Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said on Tuesday (April
7th) Turkey and Armenia have achieved some progress in ongoing talks
to normalise bilateral relations. At a press conference after the
second forum of the Alliance of Civilisations in Istanbul, Babacan said
"We are working on a comprehensive solution, and our talks are going
well. We have made significant progress so far." Turkey and Armenia
have no diplomatic relations, and their border has been closed for more
than a decade. This is largely due to Turkey’s support of Azerbaijan in
the ongoing dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region and to Yerevan’s
effort to classify the killings of 1.5 million Armenian civilians by
Ottoman Turks in 1915-1917 as genocide. Last year, however, the two
countries launched a normalisation process and stepped up official
contacts. (Anadolu news agency, NTV, TRT, Hurriyet – 07/04/09)