Azernews.Az

He said while addressing Azerbaijani lawmakers on Wednesday that Armenia is playing the role of an instigator in the region.
Gul reminded that Turkey recognized the South Caucasus republic as an independent state in 1991 [the year the Soviet Union collapsed]. Ankara has also invited Armenia, which has no access to the Black Sea, to join the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC). Nonetheless, hurdles remain in the way of forging diplomatic relations between the two countries.
“Both unacceptable conduct by Armenia against its neighbor Turkey and its keeping the territories of another neighbor – Azerbaijan – under occupation are the key reasons for the current situation, and it is high time the whole world admitted this,” Gul said.
He said Turkey sees as a priority for stability in the South Caucasus region the commitment to honoring the territorial integrity of states in keeping with international law, inviolability of borders and solution of all outstanding issues through dialog.
Gul said Ankara would continue doing everything it could to achieve settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict in peace and within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
Gul said that at the same time, his country would continue efforts to convince Armenia of the need for vesting the establishment of truth in historians and researching historical developments in cooperation. He added that his country’s proposal to set up a joint commission with Armenia to research the developments that took place in Ottoman Turkey at the dawn of the 20th century still stands.
Armenians say Ottoman Turks killed 1.5 million people in 1915 and brand the developments as “genocide”, a claim strenuously denied by the Turkic world. Yerevan has repeatedly declined Ankara’s suggestions to collaborate in looking into the developments.*