Turkey Returns to the Idea of Caucasus Stability Pact
Officials from the foreign ministries of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and Georgia will meet in Istanbul next week for the second five-party discussion of its kind on the Turkey-led Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform, the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review learned from diplomatic sources.
The first was held in December on the sidelines of the "Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe" meeting in Helsinki.
This format for technical talks between neighbors will be raised to the level of foreign ministers in the near future, sources close to the government said.
Turkey will be represented by deputy undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Ambassador Ünal Çeviköz and Russia will be represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov.
No exact date has been scheduled as of yet but diplomats said the meeting would most likely take place on Monday or Tuesday.
Turkey has moved fast in the wake of the latest Caucasus crisis to devise a way to bring divided parties around a single table to discuss the future. The proposal to create a stability pact to address security concerns in the Caucasus is helping improve Turkish-Armenian ties amid diplomatic contacts that have commenced between the two neighbors. Turkish diplomatic sources, however, said the Istanbul meeting would only focus on the technical parameters of the Caucasus platform instead of bilateral disputes between the parties involved.
The recent optimistic remarks made by Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signal a normalization in ties is no longer a dream. Armenia's Edward Nalbandian said last week Yerevan was very close to normalizing relations with Ankara and Turkey's Ali Babacan said in an interview: "I can easily say we have never come this close to a plan regarding the final normalization of relations with Armenia."
There has been a flurry of diplomacy in recent months between the two neighbors, including a landmark trip by Turkish President Abdullah Gül to Yerevan in September to attend a football match. A Turkish diplomat told the Daily News that unlike in the past, a meeting between the two countries' officials would not come as a surprise as they were already in touch.
The same diplomat, speaking anonymously, said Turkey had no plans at the moment to take a major step to better bilateral ties and added that progress in solving problems on the Armenian-Azerbaijani track would have positive impacts on the Turkish-Armenian dialogue and vice versa. "The progress in Turkish-Armenian or Armenian-Azerbaijani relations will undoubtedly have spillover effects," he noted
(Hurriyyat Daily).
ANKARA. January 24, 2009:
http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=934&Itemid=53
The first was held in December on the sidelines of the "Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe" meeting in Helsinki.
This format for technical talks between neighbors will be raised to the level of foreign ministers in the near future, sources close to the government said.
Turkey will be represented by deputy undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Ambassador Ünal Çeviköz and Russia will be represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov.
No exact date has been scheduled as of yet but diplomats said the meeting would most likely take place on Monday or Tuesday.
Turkey has moved fast in the wake of the latest Caucasus crisis to devise a way to bring divided parties around a single table to discuss the future. The proposal to create a stability pact to address security concerns in the Caucasus is helping improve Turkish-Armenian ties amid diplomatic contacts that have commenced between the two neighbors. Turkish diplomatic sources, however, said the Istanbul meeting would only focus on the technical parameters of the Caucasus platform instead of bilateral disputes between the parties involved.
The recent optimistic remarks made by Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signal a normalization in ties is no longer a dream. Armenia's Edward Nalbandian said last week Yerevan was very close to normalizing relations with Ankara and Turkey's Ali Babacan said in an interview: "I can easily say we have never come this close to a plan regarding the final normalization of relations with Armenia."
There has been a flurry of diplomacy in recent months between the two neighbors, including a landmark trip by Turkish President Abdullah Gül to Yerevan in September to attend a football match. A Turkish diplomat told the Daily News that unlike in the past, a meeting between the two countries' officials would not come as a surprise as they were already in touch.
The same diplomat, speaking anonymously, said Turkey had no plans at the moment to take a major step to better bilateral ties and added that progress in solving problems on the Armenian-Azerbaijani track would have positive impacts on the Turkish-Armenian dialogue and vice versa. "The progress in Turkish-Armenian or Armenian-Azerbaijani relations will undoubtedly have spillover effects," he noted
(Hurriyyat Daily).
ANKARA. January 24, 2009:
http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=934&Itemid=53
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