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ANKARA: Babacan, Lavrov In Talks Over Dubious Caucasus Platform

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  • ANKARA: Babacan, Lavrov In Talks Over Dubious Caucasus Platform

    BABACAN, LAVROV IN TALKS OVER DUBIOUS CAUCASUS PLATFORM

    Today's Zaman
    Aug 23 2008
    Turkey

    Foreign Minister Ali Babacan yesterday spoke with his Russian
    counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on the phone to discuss a proposed
    cooperation platform for the crisis-hit Caucasus amidst reports that
    Turkey will include its estranged neighbor Armenia in regional peace
    efforts via Russia.

    Babacan conveyed a set of "concrete proposals" to Lavrov during the
    conversation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin said, without
    elaborating. Officials from the Turkish and Russian foreign ministries
    will meet next week to work on the proposals. Babacan and Lavrov will
    also meet in early September to review progress in the technical talks.

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the architect of the proposed
    Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform, has said he won
    backing from regional countries, including Russia, for the proposed
    alliance. But questions remain on how the regional countries will
    set aside their differences and embark on a cooperation initiative.

    News reports in the Turkish media said Turkey could talk to Armenia,
    one of the regional countries that Ankara wants in the Caucasus
    platform, via Russia, Armenia's regional ally, in the initial
    stages. Direct talks between Turkish and Armenian diplomats and
    foreign ministers are planned for later stages.

    It was not clear whether one of the concrete proposals passed on
    to Lavrov concerned some form of Russian mediation between Turkey
    and Armenia, two neighbors that have had no formal ties for more
    than a decade. Turkey severed its diplomatic ties and closed its
    border with Armenia in the early 1990s in protest of an Armenian
    occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan. Normalization in ties,
    says Ankara, depends on Armenian withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh,
    Yerevan ending its efforts for worldwide recognition of claims of an
    Armenian genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire and formal
    recognition by Armenia of the current borders with Turkey.

    But despite the obstacles remaining in place for dialogue, Ankara says
    the proposed Caucasus platform will include Armenia as well. President
    Abdullah Gul reiterated late on Thursday that Armenia was planned
    to be included in the proposed Caucasus platform. "They have been
    invited to this to help resolve problems. Talks and preparations are
    still under way," he noted.

    According to plans that are still being worked out in Ankara, the
    proposed platform will include Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and
    Armenia. Erdogan has so far visited Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan
    to discuss the initiative. Armenia said it welcomed Turkey's plans
    to include Yerevan in regional peace efforts.

    Gul is still considering whether to accept an invitation from his
    Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarksyan, to visit Armenia to watch a World
    Cup qualifying game between national soccer teams of the two countries
    on Sept. 6. If it takes place, the visit will represent landmark
    progress in efforts to normalize ties between the two countries,
    but Turkish diplomats are unsure whether Armenia has taken enough
    conciliatory steps to deserve such a gesture.

    As deliberations continue in Ankara over whether Gul should accept
    Sarksyan's invitation, reports have appeared in the Turkish media that
    decision-makers are leaning toward sending a Cabinet minister, instead
    of the president, to Armenia. State Minister Murat BaÅ~_esgioglu, who
    is responsible for sports, is reportedly a candidate to visit Armenia.

    --Boundary_(ID_FYLThGDgOK16NN9prH9JUA)--

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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