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Deportation of Armenians inhumane, DavutoÄŸlu says in Yerevan

13 December 2013 19:54 (UTC +04:00)

Paying a one-day visit to Yerevan to attend the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation's (BSEC) 29th assembly of foreign ministers, DavutoÄŸlu had an approximately two-hour-long meeting with his Armenian counterpart, Eduard Nalbandyan, and gave positive signals of restoring ties between Turkey and Armenia -- who have been at odds over allegations of genocide and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict -- after their meetings.

“We never supported the deportation. This is an inhumane act and it is not possible to approve of this,” DavutoÄŸlu was quoted as saying in the Turkish media on Friday, inferring the deportation of Armenians in 1915 which is defined by Armenia as “genocide.”

While responding to the questions of reporters after the bilateral meeting, Foreign Minister DavutoÄŸlu said he had the opportunity to have a long talk with Nalbandyan in a warm and candid atmosphere after a long time.

“Our meeting has importance regarding overcoming the psychological threshold. … In that regard, it [the meeting] was useful,” DavutoÄŸlu noted.

He said everyone knows the differences of opinion between Turkey and Armenia but the important point is to come together despite the dissention. “We want to have the highest-level relations with Armenia. … Our government has extended efforts for this, as you can see. Our proposal to create a peace basin in the Caucasus in parallel with bilateral relations between Turkey and Armenia is still on our agenda,” he said.

He also refuted the Turkish AkÅŸam daily's report alleging that Turkey would reopen its border with Armenia on the condition that Armenia leaves two of Azerbaijan's occupied territories, saying he or other government officials have never said or shared information on anything of that sort. He defined such reports as speculative. “Our priority is to build dialogue on a sound psychological basis and continue on that,” the foreign minister noted.

While addressing reporters, DavutoÄŸlu also spoke of cooperation between Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan and underlined that Ankara wants Yerevan to be one of the main partners of these economic projects.

He said during his meeting with Nalbandyan that the two discussed bilateral ties and perspectives about the Caucasus region. He stated that all problems cannot be resolved immediately, referring to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue...***