Russia sees no link between Armenian-Turkish reconciliation and Nagorno-Karabakh peace process: Lavrov

YEREVAN, January 14, /ARKA/. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said today in Yerevan Moscow does not see any link between the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations and the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

Speaking at a news conference in the Armenian capital city after talks with Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan and his Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian, Lavrov said any attempt to link both processes is not correct. 

He said Russia supports both processes, however putting forth artificial conditions is not correct.

Turkey and Armenia have had no diplomatic ties since Armenia became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support for its ally, Azerbaijan, in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution process. Turkey refuses also to acknowledge the mass killings of Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire as a genocide.

Last October 10 in Zurich Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers signed two protocols on establishment of diplomatic relations and opening of borders, which yet have to be ratified by both countries’ parliaments. On January 12 Armenian Constitutional Court ruled that both protocols are in conformity with the Constitution.

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh broke out in 1988 after the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave declared about secession from Azerbaijan As Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union and removed the powers held by the enclave's government, the Armenian majority voted in 1991, December 10, to secede from Azerbaijan and in the process proclaimed the enclave the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Full-scale fighting, initiated by Azerbaijan, erupted in the late winter of 1992. International mediation by several groups including Europe's OSCE’s failed to bring an end resolution that both sides could work with. In the spring of 1993, Armenian forces captured regions outside the enclave itself. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held and currently control seven regions beyond the administrative borders of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Almost 1 million people on both sides have been displaced as a result of the conflict. A Russian- -brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan. -0-