Erdoğan: Turkey to open doors to Armenia if positive steps taken
"If positive steps are taken, Turkey will open its doors to Armenia. We have no grudge against people of Armenia. Problem is with Armenian administration. Over 100K Armenians live in my country," Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stressed in his speech on Thursday.
- World
- Agencies and A News
- Published Date: 06:00 | 10 December 2020
- Modified Date: 01:51 | 11 December 2020
Turkey could open its border gates to Armenia if Yerevan takes positive steps for regional peace, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday, adding he discussed forming a six-country regional cooperation platform with his Azeri counterpart.
Erdoğan, in Baku to mark Azerbaijan's victory in a war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, earlier renewed a call for a change of leadership in Armenia.
Speaking alongside Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, Erdoğan said he took issue with Armenia's leadership not its people. Armenia could participate in the planned regional platform along with Turkey, Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan and Georgia if it contributed to regional peace, he said.
He praised Russia's role in ending the weeks-long border clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia earlier this year.
He touched upon the French National Assembly's resolution recognizing Nagorono-Karabakh as a separate republic.
"Even [Armenian Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinyan doesn't accept it," he said, adding that French President Emmanuel Macron has "not learned politics yet."
He went on to say that the Azerbaijani administration will unleash an era of progress in Karabakh within three to five years.
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