President Abdullah Gül discussed Turkish-Armenian talks focused on normalizing relations with US President Barack Obama during a telephone conversation on Sunday, according to a statement issued by the White House. The White House said the two presidents discussed the situation in the Caucasus and that Gül updated Obama about ongoing Turkish-Armenian efforts to restore relations. They also discussed international efforts to resolve a territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Turkey closed its border and severed diplomatic ties with neighboring Armenia in 1993 in protest of Armenian occupation of a swath of Azerbaijani territory in and en route to Nagorno-Karabakh. The two countries have been holding closed-door talks to normalize their ties for
Ankara says the two processes — normalization efforts with Armenia and attempts to find a peaceful settlement for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict — are separate but that progress in one of them will positively affect the other.
The US supports the Turkish-Armenian efforts aimed at normalization. Obama avoided using the word “genocide” in a traditional statement on April 24 commemorating the deaths of Armenians in eastern Anatolia during the World War I years.
The telephone conversation came on the eve of Obama’s visit to Russia, which began on Monday. Russia, together with the US, is one of the
Obama and Gül also discussed
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
