Turkey's Prime Minister Receb Tayyip Erdogan said the normalization of Ankara-Yerevan relations is related with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict when summing up his Moscow visit, Turkish CNN Turk reported.
"No progress will be achieved in the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement unless the Karabakh conflict is resolved," he added.
Although people often speak about the lack of connection between Ankara-Yerevan relations and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, tension in Turkish-Armenian relations with further closing of the borders occurred after the occupation of Azerbaijani territories. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be solved and Azerbaijan's occupied territories must be liberated soon," Erdogan said.
"If Armenia has good intentions, let it start with its withdrawal from the regions surrounding Nagorno Karabakh.
The process of normalization between Turkey and Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh conflict are relating to each other. These processes are connected with each other behind the scene despite they appear conducted separately", Turkish Premier told journalists on board the plane on his way from Russia.
Erdogan said he had discussed the issue with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin: "Russia is the most influential member of the Minsk Group troika for Armenia. If Russia stays aside, it will be difficult to achieve results," he concluded.
Erdogan also spoke about Turkey's further steps saying: "It is clear what actions Turkey will take. We assumed risks and allowed flights to Armenia, restarted Yerevan-Istanbul flights. We opened air borders, but it differs from the opening of land borders".
Let's remind that yesterday in Yerevan Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that the two processes are in no way linked: it is difficult to solve each of these problems separately, and if one tackles them in a single package, then prospects for their settlement will automatically become very remote.
