PM Erdogan: "We hope to get results from the Govt's national unity and brotherhood project"

Returning from an official visit to Moscow, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday spoke about various domestic and foreign policy issues. "Our national unity and brotherhood project includes minorities, Alawites, and Roma (Gypsies)," he said. "Hopefully, we'll get results on these issues." Touching on the newly established Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), he said he hopes its members work within the democratic parliamentary system in a careful manner without repeating certain mistakes. On Armenia, he said that issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan should be resolved and the Nagorno-Karabakh occupation should end. The Turkish-Armenian problem and many others besides will be solved when Armenia withdraws from Nagorno-Karabakh, he said. On Turkish-Russian relations, Erdogan said that bilateral ties have now moved to a strategic cooperation phase, adding that he expects to sign an agreement towards this end when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev next visits Turkey.