Trilateral Talks

Turkey and Azerbaijan expressed a desire today to hold trilateral talks with Armenia on the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said during a visit to Azerbaijan today that his country and Azerbaijan wish a peaceful solution to the conflict. "Regretfully, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory has been occupied by Armenia. The Nagorno-Karabakh situation is unresolved. We want all these problems to be resolved in the framework of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity." Armenian-backed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh drove Azerbaijani forces out of the enclave in 1994 after six years of fighting. A cease-fire was declared but no political solution to ownership of the territory has been reached. Ethnic Armenians also control other parts of Azerbaijan that adjoin Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Vilayat Guliyev said his country welcomed Turkey's participation in talks with Armenia. Gul said Armenia had expressed a willingness to participate in such talks in the past. But he said there had been no new contacts to organize such a meeting.