US envoy urges progress in Armenia-Turkey reconciliation talks

Philip Gordon, the US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, said talks should be concluded within "a reasonable time frame."Â

 

"The process can't be on forever. But I think the parties understand that, both sides appreciated this, they need to go forward and they will," he said at a press conference during a visit to the Armenian capital Yerevan.

 

"There should be no preconditions" in the talks, he said, adding that the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two neighbors "would benefit Turkey, Armenia and the entire region."

 

Turkey and Armenia said in April that they had agreed to a road map for normalizing relations, but there have been few signs of progress since the announcement.

 

Washington has backed the reconciliation effort, with President Barack Obama calling on Armenia and Turkey to build on fence-mending efforts during a visit to Turkey in April.

 

Gordon, who took office last month, was due to visit the two other ex-Soviet republics of the South Caucasus, Georgia and Azerbaijan, on Wednesday and Thursday.