Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) meets with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in St. Petersburg

Yerevan Says Turkey has No Business in Karabakh Conflict Process

ANKARA, YEREVAN—Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said discussions on creating an Azerbaijan-Russia-Turkey trilateral effort to address the Karabakh conflict were held during his recent visit to Azerbaijan, while sources from the office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the issue of normalizing relations with Armenia might have been discussed during the president’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, reported Hurriyet Daily News.

While speaking in an interview with Anadolu Agency’s Editors’ Desk on Aug. 10, Çavuşoğlu was asked about the expectations of a suggested Turkey-Russia-Azerbaijan trilateral summit.

Çavuşoğlu said the idea came up on July 15 during a meeting in Baku.

“During our meeting in Baku, Azerbaijani officials said that a trilateral summit was established between Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran,” Çavuşoğlu said. “I told them there can also be trilateral summit with Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.”

The foreign minister said Erdogan offered the possible summit to Putin and got a positive response.

“Lots of subjects can be brought up during that meeting. Unfortunately there is this issue of Nagorno-Karabakh and occupied lands of Azerbaijan,” he stated.

“We have made lots of efforts to resolve the issue. Russia made some attempts as well. We are right now considering Russia’s suggestions, which suit our suggestions to Armenia,” he added.

Çavusoglu said Turkey will do its part on the issue, because “both our Russian and Azerbaijani friends want us to contribute to the subject.”

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tigran Balayan told news.am that Turkey has no business engaging in the Karabakh conflict resolution process, commenting of Cavusoglu’s claims.

“We are still sure that Turkey has no business engaging in the Karabakh conflict. The only benefit which the completely pro-Azerbaijani Turkey can provide is to stay away from the [Karabakh] resolution process as much as possible,” Balayan stressed.

Meanwhile, a source at the Turkish president’s office told Hurriyet that while the Turkey-Armenia normalization process might have been discussed by Erdogan and Putin, he confirmed that Turkey-Azerbaijan-Russia mechanism to address the Artsakh conflict was discussed in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

“The issue of founding a trilateral mechanism among Turkey, Russia and Azerbaijan was spoken of. Perhaps, within the framework of this issue, Armenia might have come on the agenda of the meetings,” a senior official from Erdogan’s office, speaking under customary condition of anonymity, added.