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Hillary Clinton: â€œWe believe a lot of progress has been made in relatively short period of time to resolve the issues over Nagorno Karabakh conflict, which are long standingâ€

06 June 2009 08:30 (UTC +04:00)

The Secretary of State reminded that Turkey was among the countries where she and President Obama made their first official visits. She said US and Turkey were working together to solve number of problems and there are new opportunities alongside with the problems. â€œBoth U.S. and Turkey have unique roles to play. We obviously already collaborate. Not only we are both members of NATO but we are working with G 20 to respond to the world global economic crisis. We are exploring ways to enhance our trade and commerce between our two countries. We are working to develop new energy sources including resources from the Caucasus and Central Asia. We are partners in the fight against terrorismâ€.

Clinton said US allied with Turkey in EU membership efforts and struggling PKK. She said they were strongly supportive of Turkish effort to normalize its relation with Armenia and we also very strongly supportive of the efforts to resolve Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu called his visit to Washington as a continuation of the Secretary Clinton and President Obamaâ€™s visit to Turkey. He said both parts had constructive dialogue on the issues of Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Caucasus and Black Sea Region.

Secretary Clinton answered the question about the Turkish-Armenian relations after the announcement of roadmap in April and possibility of the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict soon. â€œI have been very encouraged by the progress has been made and by the commitment of the governments involved. Certainly Turkey and Armenia with the assistance of Swiss government have committed themselves to the process of normalization. We are well aware that it is difficult and requires patience. But we are seen no flagging of commitment. The minister and I discussed the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia at length. He brought me up to date on developments. We are continuing to encourage the parties to proceed on the path which they themselves have set. Similarly with ongoing negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh. The government of Azerbaijan and Armenia are proceeding and working together. They just were together in Saint Petersburg. We believe a lot of progress has been made in relatively short period of time to resolve the issues which are long standingâ€.

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu thanked the US government for its support for both processes. â€œWe are very optimistic. We want to achieve a prosperous, peaceful Caucasus. And in that sense, we are fully committed to our normalization process with Armenia, and also, we are fully committed and we are ready to work together with United States and other co-chairs of Minsk Group for the resolution of Armenian-Azerbaijani issuesâ€.