The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Sunday, “we welcome those Azerbaijani and Armenian leadersIlham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan agreed on several humanitarian issues during the Astrakhan summit.”
Astrakhan hosted the trilateral meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on Oct.27. The parties have signed a declaration, which envisages the return of prisoners of war and takes a humanitarian nature, Medvedev said on Wednesday after the trilateral meeting.
“Turkey hopes that the Astrakhan Summit will make positive contributions to the solution process by adding momentum to the efforts to resolve the Nagrno-Karabakh dispute. We also wish that steps to be taken on humanitarian issues will be supported with concrete initiatives in other areas. Turkey is determined to fully support initiatives that will serve creation of a ground for compromise between the parties,” the Ministry added.
Turkey’s political leaders have repeatedly stated that the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations directly depends on the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
Earlier the declaration was welcomed by the France’s Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department. France and U.S. co-chair, along with Russia, the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
A conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are currently holding negotiations to resolve the dispute.
Armenia has failed to implement UN Security Council resolutions stipulating the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.
