MOSCOW - Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul has said that, ''we regretted that Turkey-Armenia relations are far away from the desired level.''
Gul, who is currently paying an official visit to Russia, attended a meeting at the International Relations Academy on Thursday.
Upon question of an Armenian student, Gul said, ''we regretted that Turkey-Armenia relations are far away from the desired level.''
Reminding that Armenia had occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories, Gul said, ''we have done everything in our power to resolve the Upper Karabakh dispute. I met with Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan for three times over our likely contributions to efforts to resolve the dispute. Nearly one million Azerbaijani people have become refugees. We will be pleased with improving our relations with Armenia if further steps are taken to resolve the dispute.''
Noting that Armenian diaspora had been bringing the so-called Armenian genocide onto agenda frequently, Gul said, ''those who are living a comfortable life outside Armenia, do not contribute to improvement of relations between Turkey and Armenia with their attitude. Historians should deal with events of the past. The Ottoman Empire had never perpetrated any massacre or assimilation intentionally.''
Upon a question regarding the Cyprus issue, Gul said, ''the peace to be provided in Cyprus should be lasting. Bizonal structure in the island should be protected as United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan envisaged. There are some factors in the plan degenerating bizonal structure. Assistance is required to this end. We will be pleased with assistance of Russia, one of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. We hope that United Nations Secretary General Annan would take it into consideration. We wish that the Cyprus issue would be resolved before May 1 and a united Cyprus would become a member of the European Union.''
Upon another question, Gul said, ''as you know, elections will be held both in Turkey and Russia soon. Results of these upcoming elections are already clear. We know the results from public surveys. These elections will provide our countries with more lasting stability.''
(UK-AÖ) 26.02.2004