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Turkish goal is to reach peace in Nagorno-Karabakh issue as soon as possible, Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations, Ertugrul Apakan, told Trend News. Speaking about the past developments with Ankara’s participation in South Caucasus, Turkish diplomat pointed out that these processes put additional responsibility on all countries of the region. “Turkey’s responsibility is to play either the role of mediator or the easing role in the processes of conflict resolution. Armenia’s responsibility is to make more steps towards peace in the current situation”, Apakan said.
Apakan is sure that Turkey will be able to solve the problems between Azerbaijan and Armenia. He stressed that Ankara is trying to take upon the responsibility not only in Caucasus, but also, other neighborhood regions, including Middle East, Balkans and etc. “We never had any other intensions. Especially while speaking about Azerbaijan, we never leave our brothers alone on half of the way”, he said.
Turkish ambassador again stressed that Turkey is waiting for the soonest resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The countries of the region should make steps towards each other.
The Turkish government said that the protocols on the normalization of relations between Ankara and Yerevan signed on October 10 are aimed to solve the conflicts in Caucasus, first, Nagorno-Karabakh one. Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey have been broken due to Armenia’s claims of an alleged genocide, and its occupation of Azerbaijani lands. The border between them has been blocked since 1993.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7 districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations.
