Armenia foreign minister to visit U.S. May 3-5

Armenia foreign minister to visit U.S. May 3-5

17:05 | 02/ 05/ 2009

YEREVAN, May 2 (RIA Novosti) – Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard
Nalbandyan is due to visit Washington on May 3-5 at the invitation of
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Armenia’s foreign ministry
said on Saturday.

Clinton will hold talks with her Armenian counterpart on Monday to try
and find a settlement to the long-running Nagorny Karabakh conflict and
following a Swiss-mediated agreement on a "roadmap" between Yerevan and
Turkey.

Armenia and Turkey reached an agreement April 23 on a "roadmap" aimed
at normalizing bilateral relations, which have been virtually
non-existent following a bitter row over the massacre of ethnic
Armenians in Turkey in the early 20th century.

Clinton will also meet with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov on Tuesday prior to talks between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani leaders in Prague on May 7.

Earlier U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and
Eurasian Affairs Mathew Bryza said that a resolution on Nagorny
Karabakh was "possible in the next few months."

The border between Armenia and Turkey was closed in 1993 on Ankara’s
initiative following fighting between Armenia and Turkey’s ally,
Azerbaijan, over Nagorny Karabakh.

The disputed region has a majority Armenian population, but which is
within Azerbaijan’s borders, declared its independence form Azerbaijan
in late 1991 and has been a source of conflict ever since.

Turkey has said it wants talks with Armenia to take place in parallel
to Armenian-Azerbaijani discussions on the future status of the region.