TABDC welcomes Iran's proposal to mediate between Ankara and Yerevan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Kaan Soyak, co-chairman of the Turkey-Armenia business development council (TABDC), welcomed Iran's proposal to mediate between Ankara and Yerevan. Pointing out to the fact that Turkey and Armenia are on the brink of a breakthrough, Soyak said for the first time regional countries and the Minsk Group (the United States, Russia and France) all agreed on the need for peace between the two countries, the Anatolia News Agency reports.



Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki offered his country's mediation for Armenia-Turkey reconciliation during a phone conversation with RA FM Edward Nalbandian.



Turkey severed its ties and closed its border with Armenia in 1993 as a token of solidarity with Azerbaijan in the Nagorno Karabakh issue.



Ankara also says the normalization of ties depends on Armenia's formal recognition of the current borders with Turkey and changing its policy of calling for worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.



In a sign of readiness to normalize ties, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan proposed "a fresh start" in relations with Turkey in an article published in The Wall Street Journal earlier this month. Sargsyan also invited Gul to a World Cup qualifying match between Armenian and Turkish teams on September 6.