Turkish FM meets Iranian, Iraqi, Serbian counterparts

Babacan also had a meeting with Foreign Minister Ahmed Ben Said Jaffar of Comoros.

"Babacan and Motaki mainly discussed the situation in the Caucasus," a spokesman of the Turkish Foreign Ministry told reporters.

Burak Ozugergin, the spokesman of the ministry, said that Motaki thought that the region was very tense and regional dialogue could reduce the tension.

According to the spokesman, Motaki also asked Babacan to brief him on his and President Abdullah Gul's recent visit to the Azerbaijani capital of Yerevan.

Babacan told Motaki during the meeting that "it was not an easy decision, but it was good to go there."

In their meeting, Babacan and Motaki agreed to be in continuous contact on the Caucasus.

Babacan asked his Iranian counterpart about the developments regarding Iran's nuclear program, while Motaki said that his country was waiting for the result of the meeting among the U.N. Security Council members (namely the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia) and Germany.

The two foreign ministers also debated energy issues.

Also meeting Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari, Babacan invited him to Turkey for the first foreign ministers meeting of the Turkish-Iraqi Strategic Cooperation Council.

Babacan reiterated Turkey's support for Iraq's sovereignty, territorial integrity and prosperity.

Turkey was looking at the big picture in Iraq and wanted Iraq to overcome its problems, he also told Zebari.

Babacan's third meeting was with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic. In this meeting, Babacan underlined the importance Turkey attached to Serbia for the
stability in the Balkans, and supported Serbia's integration to Euro-Atlantic structure.

Babacan and Jeremic also discussed Kosovo, and Babacan said that Turkey did not want to see Kosovo an issue hampering bilateral relations between Turkey and Serbia.

The Serbian minister said Turkey was a critical actor in its region, and had a leading role in international relations.

Babacan told his Serbian counterpart that Turkey wanted to see a Serbian ambassador in Ankara as soon as possible.

The Serbian Foreign Ministry had adopted an action plan to minimize diplomatic relations with countries recognizing the independence of Kosovo, and called back its ambassador, Vladimir Curgus, in Ankara.

Also meeting Foreign Minister Jaffar of Comoros, Babacan signed a commercial, economic and technical cooperation agreement.

GEORGIA POSITIVE TOWARDS REGIONAL COOPERATION
Turkish Foreign Ministry's spokesman Ozugergin also referred to Babacan's meeting with his Georgian counterpart Eka Tkeshelashvili in the previous days, and quoted Babacan as saying that Turkey was ready to contribute to infrastructural reconstruction in Georgia.

The Georgian minister asked Babacan to brief her on a trilateral meeting to take place among the foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey on
Friday, while Babacan said he thought that this would be a beginning to activate channels between not only Azerbaijan and Armenia, but also between
Turkey and Armenia.

Tkeshelashvili also said her country was positive toward regional cooperation concept.