By Eva Sahakyan

Abdullah Gul, left, and Ilham Aliyev" width="307" height="210" />

Presidents Abdullah Gul, left, and Ilham Aliyev

YEREVAN, August 17–Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Azerbaijan on Monday. According to the Azerbaijani media the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey had a private meeting, which was followed by a meeting of the Azerbaijani and Turkish delegations.

The main topics of the discussions were the “frozen” conflicts in the region. The Turkish president mentioned that the establishment of peace in the region is one of the main priorities of Turkey’s foreign policy. He said that their aim is the peaceful settlement of the Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) problem within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

“We will surely turn the Caucasus into a region of stable cooperation, which requires a solution to this problem. The conflict has lasted for 18 years, it can no longer be like this. It is necessary to meet, hold discussions and carry out both open and latent diplomatic activities,” Gül said during a press conference.

The Turkish President mentioned that it is not right to keep the problem “frozen,” as “frozen” conflicts may unexpectedly turn into great problems. He also stressed the importance of the settlement of the problem–it will give the opportunity to implement certain programs with all the countries of the region, and the South Caucasus will become a region of stability and cooperation.

“All these will contribute to broader regional cooperation, to the opening of borders, construction of new roads and to more active economic activity in the region,” Gul said.

Moscow has not been very receptive to Turkey’s overtures in helping to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Earlier this year Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Turkey should not mention the conflict in its normalization discussions with Armenia.

Yerevan Report