Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will visit Armenia next week in a sign that both Armenia and Turkey continue searching for ways to normalise their relations
Davutoğlu said he accepted Armenia's invitation to attend a meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in Yerevan on December 12.
"Turkey is one of the founding members of the organization. Its headquarters are located in Istanbul, where Armenia, which is a member of the organization, also has a representative. I received the invitation and decided to accept it after consulting the president," Davutoğlu told reporters during a press conference in Ankara.
In the meantime Davutoğlu yesterday also met with his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandyan during the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, according to Turkish media reports. He also held meetings with his Azeri counterpart Elmar Memmadyarov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Turkey and Armenia came close to restoring diplomatic relations in 2009 after signing a number of agreements aimed at normalising ties between them. The agreements however have never been ratified.Azerbaijan had put pressure on Turkey not to move forward with the agreements unless progress is made in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process. The Armenian diaspora on its part was critical of the Armenian government for moving to normalise relations with Ankara without first securing recognition of the atrocities committed in Anatolia in the earlier part of the 20th century as genocide.
source: commonspace.eu
