Relations between Armenia-Azerbaijan-Turkey discussed in Tbilisi

The regulation of relations between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey were discussed during the 3rd annual NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s 83rd Rose-Roth seminar in the capital Tbilisi. Representatives of the three countries addressed the participants and provided their opinions on the regional conflict.

It is obvious for all parties that conflict resolution will require a very long time and huge efforts, as none of the sides seem to be ready to give up their positions.

Armenian political analyst, Alexander Iskanderian, fears that despite the desire of the Armenian side to settle relations with Turkey, the process of the conflict resolution is frozen, for what official Ankara has to be blamed as the expert said at the seminar. According to Iskanderian, the situation is difficult, as the Kharabakh conflict remains unsolved and meanwhile Turkey is actively lobbing in support of Azerbaijan. The expert says currently it is impossible to even speak about the ways of stabilizing the relations between Armenia and Turkey.

Representative of Azerbaijan, Fariz Ismailzade does not deny that Turkey and Azerbaijan will remain partner countries. Ismailzade said in his speech at the seminar that Turkey played a huge role in the development of his country, but at present these two countries are equal partners. Ismailzade is concerned about the Kharabakh conflict, he said the after the failure of the Kazan meeting, the process is “closed” and it will be impossible to solve the conflict until the status of Kharabakh is resolved.

Representative of Turkey, Dr. Mustafa Aydin, assured the participants of the Rose-Roth seminar that his country is greatly interested in the Caucasus region and will try to create a zone of economic stability around its borders. However, due to the fact that the Armenian side closed the border with Turkey, it is difficult to promote negotiations between these two countries, Aydin said in his speech.

Despite principally different opinions on the ways of conflict settlement, all participants of the seminar agreed that there is no way to solve the problem and stabilize the relations between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey without the participation of international organizations and their missions.

President of NATO Parliamentary Assembly Hugh Bayley closed the seminar with his final speech, summarizing the results of the three-day event. It is nice to see that both the opposition and the government of the country keep the same foreign course and strive to achieve integration with Euro-Atlantic structures, Bayley said.

After closing the official part of the seminar, cultural events were arranged for the participants.