Turkish foreign minister to head to Yerevan on December 12: Hurriyet

EREVAN, December 6. /ARKA/. Turkish minister of foreign affairs Ahmet Davutoglu is visiting Yerevan on November 12, Turkish Hurriyet newspaper reported.

Hurriyet says the minister will head to Armenian capital to participate in the meeting of foreign ministers of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC).

On November 20, the press secretary of Armenia’s foreign ministry Tigran Balayan confirmed indirectly the foreign ministers of Turkey and Azerbaijan are invited to Yerevan for the meeting.

There are currently no diplomatic relations established between Turkey and Armenia: official Ankara closed the border in 1993. The uneasy relationship between the countries is caused particularly by Ankara’s support to Azerbaijan on Karabakh problem and Turkey’s overreaction to international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Empire. 

Some reconciliation in the relations started in autumn 2008 initiated by Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan. Foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey signed protocols about establishing diplomatic relations in Zurich on October 10 2009 to be ratified by the parliaments. On April 22 2010 Armenia’s president Sargsyan suspended the ratification process saying Turkey was not ready to continue the process. Ratification of the protocols has been frozen.

The Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization was founded in 1999 with headquarters in Istanbul. Its member states Armenia, Azerbaijan, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine. 

Armenia took over BSEC chairmanship on June 21. –0—