Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.29 / Trend T. Hajiyev /
The Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Hulusi Kilic, hopes that some progress will be achieved on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the upcoming OSCE summit in Astana scheduled for December.
"There is injustice on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which urgently should be solved," Kilic said.
Turkey, as the 17th country in the world with a strong economy and the second NATO member country with a strong army, is ready to focus all efforts on the resolution of the conflict, he said.
The OSCE summit will be held Dec. 1-2 and will bring together heads of states and governments of 56 member countries and 12 partner countries of the Organization, as well as the heads of 68 international organizations.
Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward Nalbandian signed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols in Zurich Oct. 10 to normalize bilateral relations broken in 1993. However, the protocols have not been submitted to the two countries' parliaments for ratification yet.
The Turkish government said that relations between Ankara and Yerevan will be restored only after Armenia liberates the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey were severed due to Armenia's claims of an alleged genocide and its occupation of Azerbaijani lands.
A conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding negotiations to resolve the dispute.
Armenia has failed to implement UN Security Council resolutions stipulating the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.