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TURKEY'S ERDOGAN URGES PROGRESS ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Reuters
Sept 22 2009
UK
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urged
international mediators on Tuesday to speed up efforts to resolve a
dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave as Ankara aims to normalise
ties with long-time foe Armenia.
Talks on the future of Nagorno-Karabakh, disputed by Armenia and
Azerbaijan after a war in the 1990s, have been dragging on for more
than a decade under the auspices of the Minsk Group linking Russia,
France and the United States.
Turkey has said it hopes to open its border with Armenia by the
end of the year under a protocol to establish diplomatic ties,
but further progress has been hampered in the past by the frozen
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Turkey closed the frontier in 1993 in solidarity with Muslim ally
Azerbaijan, which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists in the
breakaway mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Erdogan said the Minsk group that is co-presided by the U.S. has an
important role in contributing to the improvement of the relations
with Armenia and asked the group to increase their efforts," Anatolian
quoted him as saying.
Erdogan made his comments in New York, where he travelled to attend
the U.N. General Assembly. Turkish newspapers have reported that
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will meet his Armenian
counterpart on the sidelines of the gathering.
Anticipation over an Ankara-Yerevan thaw has been growing ahead
of a planned visit by Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan to Turkey
on Oct. 14, when he is due to attend the return leg of a World Cup
qualifying football match between the two countries.
Sarksyan has said he will not travel to the game, the first leg of
which Turkish President Abdullah Gul watched last year in Yerevan,
unless the border has reopened or there are clear signs it is about
to open.
Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties and share a history of
animosity stemming from the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks during World War One.
Turkey denies the 1915 killings amounted to genocide, but has agreed
to set up a commission of international experts on the issue under
the protocol it signed with Armenia.
Reuters
Sept 22 2009
UK
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urged
international mediators on Tuesday to speed up efforts to resolve a
dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave as Ankara aims to normalise
ties with long-time foe Armenia.
Talks on the future of Nagorno-Karabakh, disputed by Armenia and
Azerbaijan after a war in the 1990s, have been dragging on for more
than a decade under the auspices of the Minsk Group linking Russia,
France and the United States.
Turkey has said it hopes to open its border with Armenia by the
end of the year under a protocol to establish diplomatic ties,
but further progress has been hampered in the past by the frozen
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Turkey closed the frontier in 1993 in solidarity with Muslim ally
Azerbaijan, which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists in the
breakaway mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"Erdogan said the Minsk group that is co-presided by the U.S. has an
important role in contributing to the improvement of the relations
with Armenia and asked the group to increase their efforts," Anatolian
quoted him as saying.
Erdogan made his comments in New York, where he travelled to attend
the U.N. General Assembly. Turkish newspapers have reported that
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will meet his Armenian
counterpart on the sidelines of the gathering.
Anticipation over an Ankara-Yerevan thaw has been growing ahead
of a planned visit by Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan to Turkey
on Oct. 14, when he is due to attend the return leg of a World Cup
qualifying football match between the two countries.
Sarksyan has said he will not travel to the game, the first leg of
which Turkish President Abdullah Gul watched last year in Yerevan,
unless the border has reopened or there are clear signs it is about
to open.
Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties and share a history of
animosity stemming from the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks during World War One.
Turkey denies the 1915 killings amounted to genocide, but has agreed
to set up a commission of international experts on the issue under
the protocol it signed with Armenia.