InternationalFrom Armenia in brief: Istanbul hosts second Caucasus Platform meeting
Published: Saturday January 31, 2009
Yerevan - On January 26, a meeting on the Caucasian Stability and Cooperation Platform took place in Istanbul on the level of the deputy foreign ministers of five states - Turkey, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The Armenian delegation was headed by Secretary General of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Shahen Avagyan, and Head of the Arms and International Security Issues Department, Armen Edigaryan.
Immediately following the five-day Georgian-Russian war in August, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey suggested the creation of a new undertaking called the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform.
This is the second meeting on the platform; the first meeting on the level of experts took place on December 4-5 within the framework of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki.
Araz Azimov, Azerbaijan's deputy foreign minister, said that unless the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict is resolved, implementation of any platform paving the way for cooperation with Armenia is not possible. According to AzerTaj news agency, Mr. Azimov noted that generally his country supports the platform, and the fact that the five participating countries are interested in establishing security in the region is very important. However, calling for cooperation is impossible unless conflicts are settled.
