USA called on Turkey and Armenia to restore diplomatic relations

Barack Obama, the President of the USA, urged Armenia and Turkey to "make every effort" to advance the normalization of relations between the two nations, the White House spokesperson said.

"U.S. President Barack Obama commended President Sargsyan of Armenia for his courageous efforts to achieve normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey and encouraged him to fulfill the promise of normalization for the benefit of the Armenian people," the White House said in a statement, following the meeting behind closed doors in the framework of the Washington Nuclear Security Summit - Aysor.com.

The Presidents of the U.S. and Armenia also discussed process of settlement to the Karabakh conflict, Armenia's State Administration, in its turn, the statement says.

Before the meetings in Washington Sarsyan said Yerevan had made a decision on the issue of settling, but saw no reason to voice it.

The tense relations are caused by Ankara's support of Azerbaijan's position in the Karabakh problem, and Turkey's sharp reaction on the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in Ottoman Empire.

The border between the two countries was closed in 1993. Turkey demands withdrawal of Armenian troops from Nagorno-Karabakh and recognition of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan by Armenia. Turkish Foreign Ministry says interest of Azerbaijan would be considered at every stage of process of normalizing relations.

On October 10th 2009 in the University of Zurich the foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey signed protocols on diplomatic relations establishment and on development of bilateral relations. The documents must be passed by the parliaments of both countries.

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