The foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey have agreed to continue to closely coordinate efforts and provide support to Yerevan and Baku to solve the practical issues for settlement of relations, placing emphasis on confidence-building measures. Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov said this during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Antalya.

“We’re satisfied with the how the Russian-Turkish monitoring center is operating in the Aghdam region of Azerbaijan. We exchanged views on the specific situation there. We are certain that the unblocking of transport links and the efforts to boost multilateral economic cooperation in Transcaucasia with neighbors, including with the participation of Turkey and Russia will serve for comprehensive stabilization of the situation,” he said.

Asked how he would assess Turkey’s role in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and President Erdogan’s recent visit to the occupied Armenian city of Shushi, Lavrov stated the following: “As far as Erdogan’s visit to Azerbaijan is concerned, it was in the context of the relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan…Today Cavusoglu and I agreed that the both of us will use our resources to contribute to the reconciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the normalization of relations and to help the Armenians, Azerbaijanis and people of other nationalities to live as good neighbors.”

According to him, the partnership between Moscow and Ankara is embodied not only in the regular consultations and the agreements on political stances, but also in the operation of the Russian-Turkish monitoring center which ensures maintenance of the ceasefire regime. "Russia supports Erdogan’s and Aliyev’s proposal to create the “three plus three” mechanism for promoting the development of the region, including the three countries of Transcaucasia and the three neighbors — Russia, Turkey and Iran. Today we also talked about this and we have good plans. So, I repeat that we are satisfied with the close and effective cooperation over the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations and Nagorno-Karabakh issue,” Lavrov stated.

01 July 2021 / 11:12