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Turkish president sends his envoy to Armenia

14 February 2011 12:37 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Turkish President Abdullah Gul will send a letter to Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan asking him to support Turkish nominee for the post of OSCE Secretary General. Turkeyâ€™s nominee for the OSCE Secretary General, Ambassador Ersin Erchin will deliver the letter to Sargsyan, APA reports quoting Haberturk.

Erchin is expected to visit Armenia in March. He said sending the letter is a goodwill gesture. â€œI will travel there as a representative of President Abdullah Gul. The President will send a message to Sargsyan ensuring that Turkey will observe full neutrality during its activity in the OSCE secretariat and no other secretary general can be more neutral than usâ€.

Ambassador Erchin said his visit would build a psychological bridge between the two countries. â€œMy visit to Yerevan is a message. There is no Armenian in the OSCE secretariat. It is possible to involve an Armenian in its work and to behave in favor of Armenians. I will hear them more than powerful countries. Turkish secretary general meets Armeniansâ€™ interests as well. If I was Armenian or Greek I would say â€œYesâ€ to Turkishâ€.

Erchin said they were communicating with Cyprus through Greece to prevent Greek Cypriotsâ€™ possible protest against the Turkish nominee.

There are three other candidates for the OSCE Secretary General: OSCE PA President Joao Soares, Austrian former foreign minister Ursula Plassnik and UN special representative for Kosovo Lamberto Zannier (Italia).

OSCE is making decisions according to the consensus between all participating countries.