Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Philip Gordon: â€œThe Nagorno Karabakh process is going aheadâ€

30 September 2009 07:47 (UTC +04:00)

Gordon said in the meeting with Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan, Secretary Clinton underscored the United States continued strong support for the Nagorno-Karabakh process. He said also in the meeting was US new Minsk Group co-chair â€“ that is to say, representative to those talks Ambassador Robert Bradtke, a highly experienced diplomat whose designation in this job underscores how keen the United States are to see progress on that front. The Secretary also raised the case of the Azerbaijani bloggers who were recently arrested and she underscored US interest in seeing an open and fair process, said Gordon.

According to Gordon, Secretary Clinton met with Armenian Foreign Minister Nalbandian and stressed US strong support for the continued Turkey-Armenia normalization process. She made clear that, for the United States, that is a process that should move forward without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe. She also raised the issue of democratization in Armenia. In the meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu they talked about Cyprus, energy security, Afghanistan-Pakistan, Iran, Middle East peace, and probably some other issues.

Philip Gordon refused to make any comments about signings or schedules of protocols between Armenia and Turkey, which were going to sign a deal on October 10. â€œThere are things still to be finalized as to the details of a signature and submission to parliament, said the Assistant Secretary. â€œThis is a difficult process that faces some political opposition in both places, and itâ€™s hard for both governments. We welcome the process; but we also want to see a conclusion to the process, and thatâ€™s what weâ€™re underscoring when we say thatâ€.

When the Turkish journalist asked â€œJust to spell out preconditions, you mean that the Armenians donâ€™t stipulate that the Turks recognize the genocide?â€ Gordon answered: â€œI mean, no preconditions means no preconditions on either side. There are lots of things that one could try to link this process to, and what we are saying is that the process is inherently valuable, that we think that Turkey-Armenian normalization is a good thing, and it shouldnâ€™t wait for other things to get done or be linked to other things; it should go ahead. I mentioned in the context of the Secretaryâ€™s meeting with the Azerbaijani foreign minister the Nagorno-Karabakh process, which is also going ahead. If we could succeed on these multiple tracks, we would really take a major step towards peace and stability in the Caucasus, energy corridor across the Caucasus, and prosperity in the region. So thatâ€™s why we strongly support theseâ€.

Gordon added that Turkish-Armenian normalization was not an initiative by the United States and it was initiated just by Turkey and Armenia.