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NATO not to press Turkey to normalize ties with Armenia, alliance chief says
Arminfo
8 Nov 04
Yerevan, 8 November: NATO does not intend "to push" Turkey to normalize
relations with Armenia, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
said in an interview with Armenian Public TV.
Asked about whether the policy pursued by Turkey, which is reluctant to
establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, hindered the formation
of a regional security system and whether NATO was going to put
pressure on Turkey or push it to normalize relations with Armenia
through constructive measures, the NATO secretary-general said that
the alliance was not going to do that.
"My experience and my predecessors' experience show that NATO's
relations with the countries of the region - Armenia, Georgia and
Azerbaijan - have always been constructive," Scheffer said.
He said that in this context Turkey displayed the same position. "In
this connection, I do not see why NATO, being a bloc of 26 democratic
states, should put pressure on one of its members and why it has to
display a separate approach towards Turkey," the NATO secretary-general
said.
He also added that "I have seen how effectively representatives of
Armenia and Turkey communicate at high-level NATO meetings".
Arminfo
8 Nov 04
Yerevan, 8 November: NATO does not intend "to push" Turkey to normalize
relations with Armenia, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
said in an interview with Armenian Public TV.
Asked about whether the policy pursued by Turkey, which is reluctant to
establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, hindered the formation
of a regional security system and whether NATO was going to put
pressure on Turkey or push it to normalize relations with Armenia
through constructive measures, the NATO secretary-general said that
the alliance was not going to do that.
"My experience and my predecessors' experience show that NATO's
relations with the countries of the region - Armenia, Georgia and
Azerbaijan - have always been constructive," Scheffer said.
He said that in this context Turkey displayed the same position. "In
this connection, I do not see why NATO, being a bloc of 26 democratic
states, should put pressure on one of its members and why it has to
display a separate approach towards Turkey," the NATO secretary-general
said.
He also added that "I have seen how effectively representatives of
Armenia and Turkey communicate at high-level NATO meetings".