Sat 21 November 2009 | 08:38 GMT Text size:

OSCE Minsk Group

US, Russian and French representatives have completed technical work to measure the Lachin corridor, a mountain pass within the official borders of Azerbaijan that is the shortest route connecting Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh.

The foreign ministries of the countries have informed Ankara about the completion of the work.

Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reports with reference to diplomatic sources that Turkey has intensified its diplomatic activity on the settlement of the Karabakh problem. Though the protocols signed between Armenia and Turkey do not mention Nagorno-Karabakh, the issue is the only stumbling block in the normalization of relations between the two countries. Ankara has clearly said to Yerevan that normalization of ties is out of the question without progress on Karabakh, Hurriyet said.

Turkey has presented its recommendations on normalizing ties with Armenia to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group, which is mediating a settlement of the conflict:

1) The liberation of all seven occupied districts of Azerbaijan. At the first stage, Armenia should withdraw its troops from Agdam, Gubatli, Zengilan, Jebrail and Fizuli, while Kelbajar and Lachin districts, lying between Karabakh and Armenia, will be liberated after the status of the Lachin corridor has been settled and Azerbaijani refugees have returned there.

2) The start of talks on peacekeeping forces and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

3) The signing an interim agreement on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

All these issues will be discussed during negotiations between Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandyan in Athens on 1-2 December within the framework of the OSCE summit, and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov in mid-December in Ankara. The newspaper also stresses the importance of the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in Munich on 22 November.

Hurriyet