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ANKARA: Erdogan says Gul will visit Yerevan, Gul cautious

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  • ANKARA: Erdogan says Gul will visit Yerevan, Gul cautious

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    Sept 1 2008

    ErdoÄ?an says Gül will visit Yerevan, Gül cautious


    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an has indicated that
    President Abdullah Gül will go to Yerevan next week to watch a
    World Cup qualifying game between national teams of the two countries,
    but Gül remains cautious on the matter, saying he is still
    considering whether to accept the invitation from his Armenian
    counterpart, Serzh Sarksyan.

    ErdoÄ?an was speaking to reporters about the Caucasus Stability
    and Cooperation Platform, a scheme that calls for new methods of
    crisis management and conflict resolution, on Saturday evening at a
    reception held by the General Staff command at Gazi Orduevi in Ankara
    for Victory Day. Ankara aims at bringing Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
    and Turkey around the same table via this platform.

    "Why did we call this [initiative] the 'Caucasus Stability and
    Cooperation Platform'? Why is Armenia included in this, why is Georgia
    included in this? Because we chose [them] for inclusion [in the
    platform] on a geographic basis. We have to succeed in this so that
    the region will become a region of welfare and ease," ErdoÄ?an
    was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

    Following these remarks, ErdoÄ?an was asked whether he wanted
    Mr. President to go to Yerevan for the match, in an apparent reference
    to Sarksyan's invitation to Gül to watch the World Cup
    qualifying game between the national teams of the two countries on
    Sept. 6.

    "I hope it will be good," ErdoÄ?an said, adding, "The Armenia
    dimension ¦ our foreign minister will accompany him [President
    Gül] and a meeting will take place there," in remarks
    interpreted as Gül having decided to go to Yerevan and that
    Foreign Minister Ali Babacan would also accompany him in order to have
    talks there concerning Armenia's participation in the Caucasus
    Stability and Cooperation Platform.

    At the same reception, however, when asked whether he would go to
    Yerevan, Gül reiterated what he has been saying for the past
    few weeks, stating that his evaluation of the issue is still ongoing.

    Turkey closed its border with Armenia and severed formal ties after
    Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. Normalization of ties depends on
    Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, Yerevan shelving
    support for Armenian diaspora efforts to win international recognition
    for Armenian genocide claims and formal recognition by Armenia of the
    current border with Turkey.

    Azerbaijan, Turkey's regional and ethnic ally, is likely to be
    offended by any rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia. But the
    recent crisis in the Caucasus may force a rethinking of regional
    balances. The Russian operation in Georgia raised questions about the
    security of regional transportation and energy transfer lines. With
    its Armenian border closed, Turkey relies on Georgia as an outlet to
    the Caucasus.
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