Turkish President Says Status Quo In Caucasus Must Change

ASTANA - Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Tuesday that the status quo in the Caucasus must change.

"Current condition prevailing in the Caucasus is in no one's interest," Gul told reporters during his visit to Kazakhstan.

Asked about his visit to Armenia in September 2008 which started a dialogue between Ankara and Yerevan and led to signing of two protocols to normalize relations between Ankara and Yerevan, Gul said, "my visit budged the status quo."

"But it does not move easily. It has become gangrenous," Gul said.

The protocols signed between Ankara and Yerevan in October 2009 aims to normalize relations and reopen their border which was closed in 1994 following the Armenian occupation of Karabakh region in Azerbaijan. However, accords must be ratified by parliaments of the two countries.

Gul said the issue requires silent and determined work to reach a solution.

"If these issues cannot be solved within one or two years, it would take at least 10 years more [to reach a solution]. And it is in no one's interest," Gul said.