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BAKU: Washington Praises Launch Of Turkish-Armenian Dialog

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  • BAKU: Washington Praises Launch Of Turkish-Armenian Dialog

    WASHINGTON PRAISES LAUNCH OF TURKISH-ARMENIAN DIALOG

    Assa-Irada
    July 21 2008
    Azerbaijan

    The United States welcomes the start of dialog between Turkey and
    Armenia, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said
    just days after Ankara confirmed that Turkish senior officials had
    held a secret meeting with Armenian diplomats in Switzerland. The
    report on the Turkish-Armenian secret meeting had been published by
    Turkeys Huriyyet newspaper. It said the two countries diplomats had
    met in Bern July 8 for talks that lasted several days.

    The Turkish delegation was headed by high-ranking Foreign Ministry
    officials. Bryza told Radio Liberty that he had visited Armenia several
    days ago and met with President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister
    Eduard Nalbandian. He further headed to Ankara where he had meetings
    with the Turkish prime minister and his advisers on foreign affairs
    and the army, as well as the countrys foreign minister and officials
    in charge of the Caucasus region. The discussions focused on ways of
    normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations. I can say with confidence
    that both in Ankara and Yerevan, sincere efforts are being made to
    normalize ties, Bryza said. He emphasized that this entails raising
    bilateral diplomatic, economic and cultural relations to an acceptable
    level. This is a [long] process, and the talks held by Turkish and
    Armenian diplomats in Bern are the beginning. The sides worked to
    outline details concerning normalization of ties at that meeting,
    Bryza said. He voiced hope that Turkish President Abdullah Gul would
    accept the Armenian leaders invitation to jointly attend a World Cup
    qualifying football match between the two countries teams coming up
    in Yerevan. We hope that President Gul will capitalize on this golden
    opportunity to move the process forward. Sarkisians invitation is
    seen as the latest attempt to improve his countrys relations with
    Turkey. Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said whether or not
    the invitation will be accepted depended on the situation that will
    emerge. Bryza said Sarkisian had taken a very courageous step by
    extending the invitation and by mentioning the possibility of setting
    up a joint commission of historians to research the 1915 developments
    in Ottoman Turkey that Armenians term as alleged genocide. Ankara has
    repeatedly made it clear that discussions on forging ties with Yerevan
    could begin only after Armenia relinquishes its policy of occupation
    against Azerbaijan and the Armenian genocide claims. Armenia has been
    occupying over 20% of Azerbaijani territory since the early 1990s in
    defiance of international law.
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