Turkey is sponsoring additional Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations on the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in an apparent effort to hasten the normalization of its historically strained ties with Armenia.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan sat down with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts in New York on September 26 as Ankara sought to keep up the momentum in its unprecedented rapprochement with Yerevan. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The trilateral meeting came amid signs that the United States and other international mediators will make another attempt to hammer out a framework peace accord on Karabakh before the end of this year.
Babacan and Foreign Ministers Eduard Nalbandian of Armenia and Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan disclosed few details about their discussions, telling journalists only that they focused on a Turkish proposal to create a new regional organization that would include the three South Caucasus states as well as Russia and Turkey. “We discussed the Caucasus Cooperation and Stability Platform, an initiative proposed by Turkey, and started negotiating on some concrete regional issues during today’s meeting,” Babacan said in remarks broadcast by Armenian state television. He said Nalbandian and Mammadyarov reaffirmed their countries’ support for the platform and asked the Turkish side to init
EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight – Turkey Pushes for More Nagorno-Karabakh Talks amid Warming Ties with Armenia.
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