NTV MSNBC, Turkey
June 30 2004
Turkey pushes for peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia
There was hope that continued talks at the Foreign Ministry level
would held resolve the dispute between the two countries, Erdogan
said.
June 30 – Turkey has used the NATO heads of government summit in
Istanbul to reopen a process of dialogue between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.
Turkey has organised a series of meetings between Turkish Azeri and
Armenian officials on the sidelines of the summit, which wound up on
Tuesday, Erdogan told a press conference.
`I held talks with Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan of Armenia
during the summit,’ Erdogan said. `I also had the chance of bringing
Oskanyan and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan together.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul
has initiated a process by bringing together foreign ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan.’
Turkey wanted a solution to be found to Azerbaijan-Armenia
dispute on the basis of the understanding of win-win, he said.
`However, wishes are not enough at all. The most important
thing is to come to a conclusion,’ Erdogan said.
The Prime Minister said that the decision taken at Gul’s
trilateral meeting on Monday with Foreign Minister Elmar Memmedyarov
of Azerbaijan and Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan to
continue talks brought the hope that such meetings would contribute
to regional stability and the resolution of regional disputes.