Turkish top diplomat sent to Armenia for reconciliation talks

Apr 7, 2010, 13:52 GMT

Istanbul - Turkey has sent a top-level diplomat to Armenia to discuss stalled reconciliation talks between the two countries, the semi-official Anatolian Agency reported Wednesday.

Feridun Sinirlioolu, undersecretary of the foreign ministry, was to meet Wednesday with Armenian President Serge Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. He was sent as a special envoy for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey and Armenia signed a set of protocols last October that was expected to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries and re-open their land border, which Turkey closed in 1993 during Armenia's war with Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The protocols have since been languishing, awaiting ratification by the parliaments in Ankara and Yerevan, with each side accusing the other of adding new conditions after the agreement was struck.

The European Union's foreign policy director, Catherine Ashton, Tuesday encouraged Yerevan and Ankara to keep the protocols on track.

The EU 'encourages Armenia and Turkey to remain committed to the process of normalization and calls on both countries to ratify and implement the bilateral protocols without preconditions and in a reasonable timeframe,' Ashton said in a statement.

'The EU believes that the full normalization of bilateral relations between Armenia and Turkey would be an important contribution to security, stability and cooperation in the Southern Caucasus,' she added.