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TURKISH, ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS AGREE TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS
Hurriyet
Sept 8 2008
Turkey
The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers have agreed to normalize
bilateral relations during a late-night meeting held in the Armenian
capital, Yerevan, after the Turkish president's landmark visit,
Hurriyet daily wrote on Monday.
Armenia's Eduard Nalbandian and Turkey's Ali Babacan have agreed
on several issues; including the opening of closed borders, the
establishment of diplomatic relations and entering a normalization
process, in Saturday night's meeting, Hurriyet reported.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul paid a landmark visit to Yerevan after
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan invited him to watch a 2010 World
Cup qualifying match between the two countries' national teams. A
Turkish delegation, including Babacan, accompanied Gul during his
historical visit.
Turkey is among the first countries that recognized Armenia when it
declared its independency in the early 1990s. However there is no
diplomatic relations between two countries, as Armenia presses the
international community to admit the so-called "genocide" claims
instead of accepting Turkey's call to investigate the allegations,
and its invasion of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory despite
U.N. Security Council resolutions on the issue.
The Turkish and Armenian delegations, headed by the two foreign
ministers, held talks regarding Turkey's proposal for a new regional
forum in the Caucasus, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and other regional
issues, Hurriyet wrote.
Babacan told Nalbandian that Turkey supported the Minsk process for
the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and added that his
country favored the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all
countries in the region, according to the report in Hurriyet.
Both foreign ministers were careful to avoid contentious issues,
such as the so-called Armenian genocide, the report added.
Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million
of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. Turkey
rejects the claims, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with at least
as many Turks died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took
up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.
In 2005, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan took a first step
towards resolving the issue by proposing that a joint commission of
historians launch an investigation and publish their conclusions,
but the proposal was rejected by Yerevan.
Armenia also announced Sunday that the foreign ministers of both
countries will meet formally on the sidelines of the U.N. General
Assembly in New York later this month.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Hurriyet
Sept 8 2008
Turkey
The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers have agreed to normalize
bilateral relations during a late-night meeting held in the Armenian
capital, Yerevan, after the Turkish president's landmark visit,
Hurriyet daily wrote on Monday.
Armenia's Eduard Nalbandian and Turkey's Ali Babacan have agreed
on several issues; including the opening of closed borders, the
establishment of diplomatic relations and entering a normalization
process, in Saturday night's meeting, Hurriyet reported.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul paid a landmark visit to Yerevan after
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan invited him to watch a 2010 World
Cup qualifying match between the two countries' national teams. A
Turkish delegation, including Babacan, accompanied Gul during his
historical visit.
Turkey is among the first countries that recognized Armenia when it
declared its independency in the early 1990s. However there is no
diplomatic relations between two countries, as Armenia presses the
international community to admit the so-called "genocide" claims
instead of accepting Turkey's call to investigate the allegations,
and its invasion of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory despite
U.N. Security Council resolutions on the issue.
The Turkish and Armenian delegations, headed by the two foreign
ministers, held talks regarding Turkey's proposal for a new regional
forum in the Caucasus, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and other regional
issues, Hurriyet wrote.
Babacan told Nalbandian that Turkey supported the Minsk process for
the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and added that his
country favored the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all
countries in the region, according to the report in Hurriyet.
Both foreign ministers were careful to avoid contentious issues,
such as the so-called Armenian genocide, the report added.
Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million
of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915. Turkey
rejects the claims, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with at least
as many Turks died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took
up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.
In 2005, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan took a first step
towards resolving the issue by proposing that a joint commission of
historians launch an investigation and publish their conclusions,
but the proposal was rejected by Yerevan.
Armenia also announced Sunday that the foreign ministers of both
countries will meet formally on the sidelines of the U.N. General
Assembly in New York later this month.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress