During his visit to Washington, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the Johns Hopkins University, where he delivered an speech.
In his speech Erdogan criticized the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group.
He said it has been 20 years since the beginning of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but “these negotiations did not yield any results. There are certain UN resolutions, and they must be implemented.”
“I see that the leaders have a political will to resolve the conflict and they do everything to have the results. Now the Minsk Group should show its will. Besides Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan has lost large part of its territory. Now the five districts plus Lachin and Kelbajar should be returned. I had told this to Medvedev during our last meeting, and I have told it to Obama today,” said Erdogan.
Erdogan noted that special attention should be paid to the roots of the conflict.
“Now the terms are set for normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia, so now more than ever it is time to resolve the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Erdogan also noted that 170,000 Armenians currently live in Turkey.
“But many of them are not our citizens. We have not sent them back because they came to us from the fact that they have a bad situation in their country. We opened flights to Armenia and restored Armenian church in Van. This is our gesture, but they must be sincere, too.”
The Prime Minister also criticized Europe.
He said that Europe is not sincere towards Turkey.
“Do not waste your and our time. We have learned our lessons well, if you do not like — say honestly that you do not want to accept us into your ranks,” he said.
He also stressed that “Turkey will not refuse its transatlantic goals. Turkey may be the entrance door to the region.”
Speaking about the nuclear policy, Erdogan urged the world to bring an end to nuclear weapons.
“Turkey is against Iran’s nuclear program. But all must put an end to the nuclear program, not only some countries.”
