Babacan: "We want a solution in which Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia are all winners"

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan yesterday attended the 20th meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in Yerevan, Armenia, amidst debate in both Turkey and Azerbaijan over Turkey's efforts to normalize relations with Armenia. On the sidelines of the meeting, Babacan spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mamadguliyev. Babacan and Lavrov discussed regional and international issues such as the Middle East, Iran's nuclear program, problems between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the Caucasus. During the meeting, Babacan said Turkey places great importance on the Minsk process and will continue to support it. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group and Minsk Process was created in 1992 by the then Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) to encourage a peaceful solution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia invaded the Azeri territory of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1993. Yesterday Babacan and Mammadguliyev took up issues related to the BSEC during their meeting. At a four-party meeting attended by Lavrov, Babacan also spoke with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandian. During this meeting, Babacan reportedly stressed the importance of simultaneous solving the problems among Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan, adding that reaching a comprehensive solution between Turkey and Armenia would be very difficult without solving the Nagorno-Karabakh issue between Azerbaijan and Armenia. At the end of yesterday's meeting, Armenia handed over the BSEC term presidency to Azerbaijan. In related news, en route to Yerevan, Babacan told reporters that Turkey sees relations between it and Armenia from a broad perspective. "Turkey wants a solution in which everybody is a winner," he added. "We want Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan to win." He also said Ankara is seeking comprehensive and complete normalization in the region, not a partial one. "We don't say, 'Let's first solve one problem and later solve another one '," he added. "We want a similar process to start between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We're closely watching the talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia."