Nagorno Karabakh process is going ahead: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon held a briefing for journalists on readout on the meetings of Azerbaijani, Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton within the UN General Assembly 64th session.

Gordon said in a meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov that Secretary of State Clinton had noted that the United States continued strong support for the Nagorno-Karabakh process. He said also new U.S. Co-Chair of the Minsk Group Robert Bradtke also participated whose designation in this job underscores how keen the United States are to see progress on that front. The Secretary also raised the issue of the Azerbaijani bloggers who were recently arrested and she said the U.S. interested in seeing an open and fair process, said Gordon.

Gordon said the Secretary Clinton met with Armenian Foreign Minister Nalbandian and stressed U.S. strong support for the continued Turkey-Armenia normalization process.

She made clear that, for the United States, that is a process that should move forward without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe.

In the meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu they talked about Cyprus, energy security, Afghanistan-Pakistan, Iran, Middle East peace, and probably some other issues.

Philip Gordon refused to make any comments about signings or schedules of protocols between Armenia and Turkey, which were going to sign a deal on October 10.

“There are things still to be finalized as to the details of a signature and submission to parliament, said the Assistant Secretary."

“This is a difficult process that faces some political opposition in both places, and it’s hard for both governments. We welcome the process; but we also want to see a conclusion to the process, and that’s what we’re underscoring when we say that”.

In response to the Turkish journalist's question who asked whether Armenians' false 'genocide' claims were precondition for normalization of ties Gordon answered: “I mean, no preconditions means no preconditions on either side. There are lots of things that one could try to link this process to, and what we are saying is that the process is inherently valuable, that we think that Turkey-Armenian normalization is a good thing, and it shouldn’t wait for other things to get done or be linked to other things; it should go ahead. I mentioned in the context of the Secretary’s meeting with the Azerbaijani foreign minister the Nagorno-Karabakh process, which is also going ahead. If we could succeed on these multiple tracks, we would really take a major step towards peace and stability in the Caucasus, energy corridor across the Caucasus, and prosperity in the region. So that’s why we strongly support these”.

Gordon added that Turkish-Armenian normalization was not an initiative by the United States and it was initiated just by Turkey and Armenia.

/APA/