Garabagh mediator hopes for opening of Turkey-Armenia border
Matthew Bryza, US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group
(MG) brokering a settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper
(Nagorno) Garabagh conflict, has expressed hope that the
Turkey-Armenia border that has been closed for many years would be
opened soon.
Bryza, who visited Baku on Friday, said the opening of the border and overall normalization of relations between Ankara and Yerevan would facilitate the MG`s efforts to find a solution to the Garabagh problem.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 due to Armenia`s policy of occupation against Azerbaijan and Armenian claims regarding the alleged World War I-era genocide in the Ottoman Empire. International media have been circulating reports suggesting that the border would be re-opened in mid-April.
According to Bryza, forging ties between Turkey and Armenia would be a positive step for the entire region.
"Azerbaijan is our close friend, just like Turkey. No one wants anything contradicting Azerbaijan`s interests to happen," he said.
The US mediator, who also acts as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, paid a one-day visit to Baku on orders from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an effort to set the stage for the next meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian in the coming months. During the visit, Bryza met with President Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.
Bryza told a press conference in the Azerbaijani capital that the Aliyev- Sarkisian meeting is most likely to take place May 7-8 on the margins of the European Union summit on the Eastern Partnership program, a regional project that envisions Europe`s closer cooperation with its ex-Soviet neighbors.
Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war over the mountainous region of Upper Garabagh in the early 1990s, which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about one million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan`s internationally-recognized territory since then. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have been fruitless so far. Sporadic clashes on the frontline continue.
Bryza, who visited Baku on Friday, said the opening of the border and overall normalization of relations between Ankara and Yerevan would facilitate the MG`s efforts to find a solution to the Garabagh problem.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 due to Armenia`s policy of occupation against Azerbaijan and Armenian claims regarding the alleged World War I-era genocide in the Ottoman Empire. International media have been circulating reports suggesting that the border would be re-opened in mid-April.
According to Bryza, forging ties between Turkey and Armenia would be a positive step for the entire region.
"Azerbaijan is our close friend, just like Turkey. No one wants anything contradicting Azerbaijan`s interests to happen," he said.
The US mediator, who also acts as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, paid a one-day visit to Baku on orders from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an effort to set the stage for the next meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian in the coming months. During the visit, Bryza met with President Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.
Bryza told a press conference in the Azerbaijani capital that the Aliyev- Sarkisian meeting is most likely to take place May 7-8 on the margins of the European Union summit on the Eastern Partnership program, a regional project that envisions Europe`s closer cooperation with its ex-Soviet neighbors.
Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war over the mountainous region of Upper Garabagh in the early 1990s, which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about one million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan`s internationally-recognized territory since then. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have been fruitless so far. Sporadic clashes on the frontline continue.
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