TURKEY WELCOMES RUSSIAN EFFORTS IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH TALKS

Baku, 5 November,(AzerTAj) - Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has praised Russia for hosting talks between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the long-running dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hosted talks between Azerbaijani leader Ilham
Aliyev and Armenian leader Serzh Sarksyan on Sunday. A declaration read by Medvedev
after the three-way talks said the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to
have more talks to reach a settlement on the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
"It is a fact that no solution can be achieved in Nagorno-Karabakh without Russia's
support," Babacan told reporters en route to Marseilles to attend a
Euro-Mediterranean meeting late on Monday.
Turkey proposed a regional platform for discussion and the resolution of conflicts
in the troubled Caucasus after a brief war between Russia and Georgia. With the
planned Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform, Ankara aims to bring Turkey,
Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia together around the same table.
Babacan, however, added that it is not possible to reach a resolution in this region
without including Turkey and the United States.
Steps taken by Turkey since September 2007 at various levels to contribute to the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and steps taken by Russia on the same
issue are complementary to each other, the minister noted.