Caucasus Platform heads of state to meet in Helsinki

PanARMENIAN.Net - Months of effort by Ankara to bring Turkey, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia together around the same table have finally yielded a concrete result with a technical-level meeting between these five countries to be held in Helsinki later this week, Today's Zaman reports.



Turkey's proposal to establish a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform came following a brief war between Georgia and Russia in August and aims to bring Turkey, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia together in a regional platform for discussion and the resolution of conflicts in the troubled Caucasus.



Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, speaking to reporters late on Sunday ahead of his departure for an official visit to Baku, said the function of the Caucasus platform is one of the topics on the agenda for his talks with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.



Regarding the 16th Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which he will attend in Helsinki on Thursday and Friday, Babacan said the OSCE's Ministerial Council had a particular importance nowadays due to the current state of affairs in the region.



The first meeting of the Caucasus platform will be held on the sidelines of the meeting in Helsinki and will consist of technical negotiations concerning the platform's goals, principles and mechanisms, Babacan added.