Turkey\’s Davutoglu Attends BSEC Meeting in Yerevan, Holds Talks with Nalbandian

YEREVAN — Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu paid a first-ever visit to Armenia on Thursday, underlining Ankara’s declared attempts to initiate a new thaw in Turkish-Armenian relations.

Davutoglu arrived in Yerevan to attend a meeting of top diplomats from 11 countries aligned in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) organization. Only three of them — Turkey, Bulgaria and Armenia — were represented by their foreign ministers. The other member states sent lower-level officials to the one-day meeting mostly held behind the closed doors.

Nalbandian and Davutoglu shook hands at a conference hall in a Yerevan hotel where the gathering took place. They met separately for more than an hour later in the day.

The two ministers did not address the press after the talks. Davutoglu did not answer a question from RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) before giving an exclusive interview to Turkish journalists, two of them ethnic Armenians.

According to Ara Kochunian, editor of the Istanbul-based Armenian-language daily “Jamanak,” Davutoglu described the talks with Nalbandian as “warm” and “frank” and claimed that the two sides overcame a “psychological barrier” to renewed dialogue. Gocunian also quoted the minister as saying that Ankara and Yerevan could narrow their difference with more frequent contacts between their top officials.

Nalbandian did not comment at all. An ensuing statement by the Armenian Foreign Ministry said he told Davutoglu that Armenia continues to insist on establishing diplomatic relations and opening the Turkish-Armenian border “without any preconditions.”

“I hope that my visit to Yerevan will contribute to comprehensive peace and stability efforts in the BSEC region and the Caucasus,” Davutoglu wrote on Twitter ahead of the trip, according to “Hurriyet Daily News.” “As Turkey, we will continue to make efforts to solve conflicts in the periphery.”

The chief Turkish diplomat thus appeared to have reaffirmed the importance of a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations. Ankara has stood by this precondition since it began making new overtures to Yerevan in October.

A Turkish diplomat accompanying Davutoglu confirmed that decisive progress in Armenian-Azerbaijani talks remains a necessary condition for the Turkish-Armenian normalization. Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) before the meeting with Nalbandian, the diplomat said Davutoglu will not present his Armenian counterpart with any concrete proposals. The main purpose of Davutoglu’s visit is to try to rebuild trust between the two estranged neighbors, he said.

Nalbandian, meanwhile, again rejected Ankara’s Karabakh linkage.  “Our and the international community’s position is clear: the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations must take place without any preconditions,” he told reporters before meeting Davutoglu. “Therefore, the Turkish side’s attempts to link it with other issues and set preconditions are futile and meaningless.”

Earlier this week, one of Nalbandian’s deputies, Shavarsh Kocharian, accused Davutoglu of making “provocative” statements undermining international efforts to bolster stability in the region. The verbal attack reflected Armenia’s view that Turkey is not prepared for normalizing bilateral ties. Officials and pundits in Yerevan feel that Ankara is only keen to keep more countries from recognizing the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire ahead of its 100th anniversary to be marked in 2015.

MassisPost

Share
Published by
MassisPost
Tags feature

Recent Posts

Armenia Improves to 43rd Place in 2024 World Press Freedom Index

PARIS -- Armenia ranks 43rd (up from 49th last year) in the 2024 World Press Freedom…

4 hours ago

The Paros Foundation Hosts Fundraiser Benefiting the Nor Hachen Polyclinic

ATWATER VILLAGE, CA. - On April 28, 2024, the Med-Aid Armenia 2nd Annual Fundraiser was…

23 hours ago

Armenia and U.S. Extend Cooperation Agreement on Countering Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

YEREVAN -- Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan and U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien signed…

23 hours ago

Secretary of State Blinken is Personally Engaged in Resolving Conflict Between Armenia and Azerbaijan: Patel

WASHINGTON, DC -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is personally deeply engaged on the…

2 days ago

PM Nikol Pashinyan’s Message on International Labor Day

YEREVAN (Armradio) -- Poverty can be overcome only by work, combined with education and improvement…

2 days ago

Momentum for the Establishment of Lasting Peace is Real- Armenian Foreign Minister’s Interview to Al-Jazeera

DOHA -- During his official visit to the State of Qatar on April 28-29, Minister…

3 days ago