TURKEY, ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN MINISTERS TO MEET IN NY
By Daniel Bases
Reuters
Mon Sep 22, 2008 11:13pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The war between Russia and Georgia shifted the
political landscape in the Caucasus and is prompting Turkey, Armenia
and Azerbaijan, three countries with long-standing disputes, to try
to settle their differences, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan
said on Monday.
The foreign ministers from all three countries will meet on Friday
on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly to discuss "frozen
conflicts."
"The recent crisis in Georgia urged all the countries in the region
to re-evaluate policies and also have a stronger feeling of urgency,"
Babacan said at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Russia sent troops deep into Georgian territory during a five-day
war last month over Georgia’s breakaway, pro-Russian province of
South Ossetia.
Georgia and Turkey form a key energy transfer link for oil and gas
from Azerbaijan.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul, accompanied by Babacan, made a historic
first visit to Armenia on September 6 to watch a soccer match between
the two nations.
The neighbors have no diplomatic ties but a relationship haunted by
whether ethnic Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks during World War
One were victims of systemic genocide.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of
solidarity with Azerbaijan, a Turkic-speaking ally that was fighting
Armenian-backed separatists over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The political will is there, which is probably very important, and
then the rest is details to be discussed and the devil is obviously
in the details of course," said Babacan.
He said he expected an acceleration in the talks after the October
15 Azeri presidential election.
Babacan’s counterparts are Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
and Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov. (Editing by Doina
Chiacu)