August 25, 2009 - 21:23 AMT
British Ambassador to Turkey believes that Baku and Yerevan should hurry
British Ambassador to Turkey Nick Baird completing his diplomatic mission, in an interview to Turkish Hürriyet, said that after successful resolutions of the Kurdish, Armenian and Cyprus issues, the region could attain a long-term stability.

According to the British Ambassador, the efforts of the Turkey's government to normalize relations with neighboring Armenia were very brave, but this process was blocked by Ankara, due to pressure from the official Azerbaijan because of the unresolved Nagorno Karabakh conflict. Normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations can be successful only after a tangible progress in the Karabakh problem settlement, Nick Baird said.

Commenting the attempts of Ankara to link the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border with Nagorno Karabakh issue, Nick Baird particularly said: "I did not really think that the Turkey's government has a big choice. Turkey has good relations with Azerbaijan, and it is also trying to normalize its relations with Armenia. But you can not sacrifice one thing for the other. I think that for the sake of progress in regional stability joint efforts should be made".

He also said: "We will strongly encourage the United States and the OSCE Minsk Group to ensure that agreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan are reached now".