April 27, 2002 - 00:04 AMT
QUESTIONS OF REGIONAL COOPERATION DEVELOPMENT TO BE ACCENTUATED AT ARMENIAN AND TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTERS' COMING MEETING
The meeting of the head of the Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian and his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem will be held in the capital of Iceland in May. Questions of developing cooperation in the South Caucasus region will be the main topic of discussion. Vardan Oskanian told the "Arminfo" agency correspondent today that the next meeting of the Council on cooperation of the NATO countries, of which Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan are members, would be held in Reykjavik May 14-15. Within its framework both bilateral and wider membership meetings may take place. The Armenian Foreign Minister reminded that he had met his Turkish colleague in New York at the beginning of the year and the possibility that the bilateral dialogue would continue in Reykjavik was not ruled out, although there had been no clear arrangements on the meeting. He also noted that it is planned to discuss a wide circle of problems with an emphasis on the regional cooperation: releasing blocked communications, TRASECA project realization and others. "It is still hard to say whether the question of Ankara's recognition of the Armenian genocide in 1915 will be discussed or not. As there is no clear agenda for the negotiations, the both sides may discuss any problems," - the head of the Armenian foreign ministry noted.