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Turkish delegation discusses Turkey-Armenia normalization process, Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and Turkey-Israel crises in Washington

19 June 2010 10:22 (UTC +04:00)

Members of the group are Murat Mercan, head of Parliamentâ€™s Foreign Affairs Committee, Suat KÄ±nÄ±klÄ±oglu, the AK Partyâ€™s deputy chairperson for external affairs, and Zeynep DagÄ±, head of the Turkish group at the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) and Ibrakhim KalÄ±n, the chief foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Erdoghan.

According to Mr. Chelik, the Turkish side informed US officials about Turkey’s policy on the region.

On June 18, the Turkish officials joined a conference at the Middle East Institution where a number of South Caucasus related issues were discussed.

Mr. Chelik said there is a dispute of some misunderstanding between Turkey and the United States on their policies in the region, but the two sides at least listen to each otherâ€™s positions and opinions.

â€œDuring our meetings also Armenia and the PKK issues were raised, but we donâ€™t want these issues to become blackmail for us. Our policy is clear and peaceful. Unfortunately sometimes Turkeyâ€™s peaceful policy isnâ€™t met with respect, there is no place for blackmailing between friendsâ€ he said.

The Turkish delegation stated that they have explained the connection that they see between Nagorno-Karabakh and the Turkey-Armenia normalization process at their meetings in Washington DC.

â€œItâ€™s the history that will show Turkish peaceful policyâ€™s impacts to the regionâ€, - Mr. Chelik said.

Senior Transatlantic Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the United States Ian Lesser who also participated at the conference believes that Azerbaijan is one of the important sides that the regional stability depends on.

According to him, if the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be solved soon, the security of the South Caucasus region will strengthen. He reminded that the Turkey-Armenia rapprochement helped to speed up the Nagorno-Karabakh process.

Robert Wexler, former congressman and Co-Chairman of the Congressional Turkey Caucus, who currently serves as a president of the Center for Middle East Peace also shares Mr. Lesserâ€™s opinion.

He said that if the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh was solved some time ago, then it will be easier to hold the Turkey-Armenia processes.