ANKARA - Turkey expressed pleasure Friday about the progress the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan made during discussions aimed at resolving their long-standing dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"We are pleased that progress was made during [Thursday’s] meeting. This is a serious beginning that should be encouraged by all the parties concerned," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a joint press conference with his Finnish counterpart, Alexander Stubb, in Ankara.
"This region is ours and the fate of this region is in our hands. We are pleased with the negotiations of Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders," said Davutoglu.
For his part, Stubb strongly supports Ankara’s membership in the EU and praised the role Turkey has been playing for the resolution of frozen conflicts in the region, including the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, saying that it demonstrated once again the strategic importance of Turkey for the EU.
Davutoglu is flying to New York on Sunday to attend a Middle East session of the U.N. Security Council. Turkey is non-permanent member of the council. The foreign minister is scheduled to meet with his counterparts, including British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
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