Azernews.Az

The United States' policy in the Black Sea region is aimed at creating a center for multi-faceted geo-political cooperation, a senior US official said.
Such cooperation would cover the economy, energy and national security issues, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza told an international conference, "Broader Black Sea region: international and regional security", in Yerevan.
Panarmenian news agency quoted Bryza as saying that the White House was looking to find common interests with Russia and Turkey. "The Black Sea and South Caucasus states are among countries that we are focusing on," the State Department official said.
He said that among tasks to be dealt with was forging relations between Armenia and Turkey and opening the border between the two countries. "This could be partial opening of the frontier, reviving economic relations and joint energy projects."
Bryza said Washington was working to normalize relations between Yerevan and Ankara without the involvement of third states, which means that Turkey should not put forth liberation of the occupied Azerbaijani territories as a pre-condition for this.
"True, the 'one nation, two states' notion is in place between Turkey and Azerbaijan, and this has to change…But this will take time," he maintained.
Bryza believes that Armenia's demands for Turkey to back down from its pre-conditions were fair. However, Armenia, for its part, must recognize Turkey's current borders.
Ankara demands that Armenia relinquish its claims on the "genocide" that allegedly happened in Ottoman Turkey during World War I. Moreover, Ankara backs Azerbaijan on the settlement to the long-standing conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh the latter faces with Armenia.
The Turkish-Armenian border has been closed since 1993 on Ankara's insistence.
The European Union envoy on South Caucasus Peter Semneby, in his remarks, cited roadblocks posed by regional conflicts.
"The unresolved status of the disputes is causing problems for stability in regional states, welfare, positive changes for the population, as well as the conduct of constitutional reform," he said.
Semneby said that despite economic development in the region, it still faces problems and stand-off, with the latter related chiefly not to economic issues but security.
The EU representative said the challenges faced by regional countries also pertain to the borders' being closed.
"In particular, the closed borders between Russia and Georgia as well as those of Armenia with Azerbaijan and Turkey are in the way of capitalizing on the region's potential."
He said the 27-member union has embarked on efforts to boost relations with its regional allies, mainly within the European New Neighborhood Policy.
The envoy said the EU deemed regional cooperation in the Black Sea region as a priority. "We are placing an emphasis on this region as South Caucasus states have approached our borders after Romania and Bulgaria became EU members."
An appeal by the NATO representative on South Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons distributed among the conference participants said the alliance was ready to assist settlement to lingering conflicts in the region.
"Although NATO is not [directly] involved in the process of settling regional conflicts, countries will succeed in reaching a common denominator and solving their problems, and I hope the alliance will be able to make a contribution to this process," the envoy wrote.
Simmons indicated that NATO could play an important role in establishing stability in the Black Sea region, which has long been considered a troubled area. He added that the solution of problems required developing cooperation among regional states, addressing energy-related issues and boosting the trade turnover.
The event was organized by the Armenian International Policy Research Group with the support of NATO, OSCE and the Dutch embassy. It was attended by representatives of Turkey, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia.