The presidents of Armenia and Turkey agreed at talks in Prague to try to rebuild relations within a reasonable timeframe and without any preconditions, the Armenian leader”s press office said on Friday.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Turkish leader Abdullah Gul met in Prague on Thursday as part of efforts to tackle their long-running dispute over Nagorny Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian region located within the borders of Turkey”s ally Azerbaijan.
“The presidents of Armenia and Turkey gave a positive assessment to their Prague meeting, where they agreed to stick to existing understandings and continue efforts to improve bilateral relations without any preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe,” the press office said.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support for Azerbaijan following a bloody conflict over Nagorny Karabakh between the two ex-Soviet Caucasus republics. Turkey earlier refused to open the border until the dispute has been resolved. Ankara has also demanded Yerevan drop its campaign to have the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 internationally recognized as genocide.
This was the presidents” second meeting and came after Gul”s visit to Armenia last fall.
The two countries have had no diplomatic relations since the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. However, they agreed to a “roadmap” to normalize their relations under Swiss mediation in April.
Sargsyan also met with Azerbaijani Presidents Ilham Aliyev on Thursday in Prague, agreeing on the basic principles of a settlement of the Nagorny Karabakh issue.
