Armenian-Turkish reconciliation to bring great benefits to region

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said has been very encouraged by the progress that has been made and by the commitment of the Armenia and Turkish governments involved.



"Certainly, Turkey and Armenia, with the assistance of the Swiss Government, have committed themselves to a process of normalization. We're well aware that this is difficult. It requires patience and perseverance. But we have seen no flagging of commitment," she said after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.



"The minister and I discussed this at length. He brought me up to date on developments. And we are continuing to encourage the parties to proceed on the path which they themselves have set. We are supportive, but it is up to the Turkish and Armenian governments and people to realize the great opportunity this poses. The normalization of relations not only continues what I have seen from the Turkish Government, which is a desire to actually solve problems, and I applaud that, but we think it will bring great benefits to the region," Secretary Clinton said.



"Similarly, with the ongoing negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh, the Government of Azerbaijan and of Armenia are proceeding and working together. They were just in a recent meeting in St. Petersburg. So we believe that a lot of progress has been made in a relatively short period of time to resolve issues that are of long standing," she said.



"What's important is the commitment to get to a point of resolution of these conflicts, and I see that commitment. Now are there problems along the way? Of course. There is in any difficult undertaking. But I do not doubt the commitment, and I certainly appreciate the very strong position that the Turkish Government has taken," the Secretary of State concluded.