Turkish Premier Says Initialed Deal with Armenia To Be Sent To Parliament

Thursday, 24 September 2009 08:30

The Turkish prime minister said on Wednesday that an initialed deal with Armenia could be sent to the parliament soon. Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he believed an initialled deal with Armenia could be brought to the Turkish parliament soon.

"We have reached an important stage with the step we have taken with Switzerland's mediation, and I believe we can send the initialed document to the parliament if we do not face any prejudice and if steps are not taken by just thinking about the internal politics," Erdogan told a conference at the Princeton University in New York.

Erdogan said that the document would be sent on October 10 or 11.

The Turkish prime minister said that the president of Armenia could visit Turkey for a World Cup qualifier between Turkey and Armenia in October with comfort as the Turkish president visited Armenia for an away match last year.

"Turkey will have neighborly relations with Armenia within the framework of mutual respect," he also said.

The Turkish prime minister enumerated recent problems the world was facing as wars, economic crisis, hunger, poverty, terrorism, energy safety and climate change, and underlined the need for a new global order for solution of problems.

"There should be a fair and pluralist order embracing every one, based on confidence and which sees differences as a richness," Erdogan said.

Erdogan said there was need for a new understanding of leadership, and said Turkey could contribute to the new global order.

The Turkish prime minister said the new world system could rise on four main principles, including the global political order, economic order, cultural order, and universal legal norms.

Erdogan said that the global political order should be pluralist and egalitarian, and countries had to perceive relations among actors correctly.

The prime minister said Turkey was implementing a fair policy embracing every one in its region, and was trying to gain friends, not enemies.

"If you end prejudices, it is not difficult to gain friends, and the constructive and pacifist policy we pursue in our region aims at not only regional but also global peace," he said.

Erdogan said, "is it possible to see Middle Eastern problem only as a regional problem? I believe many problems in the world would be solved when Israeli-Palestinian dispute is overcome."

Prime Minister Erdogan said the new economic order should also be fair. Referring to the cultural aspect of the new global order, Erdogan said Turkey had assumed the co-leadership of the Alliance of Civilizations initiative, which proved it was possible and necessary for different cultures and civilizations to live in a constructive atmosphere.

On the universal legal norms, Erdogan said, "fundamental rights such as right to live, human rights, freedom of expression and belief, immunity of private life and safety were the common goals of humanity."

Erdogan also referred to Turkey's democratic move, and said Turkey wished to complete this process with success.

"What I am saying is to create a system for a new global order, based on justice, peace and confidence," he said.

Also, Erdogan said Turkey was a country that had suffered much from terrorism, and was one of the countries supporting international fight against terrorism.

"Our aim is to ensure peace and stability in our region, and contribute to world peace," Erdogan also said.

Erdogan said there was need for a dialogue platform that would bring together regional countries, and therefore Turkey proposed to set up a stability and cooperation platform in the Caucasus.

The Turkish prime minister said Turkey aimed to make the region a basin of peace, and wanted to solve Azerbaijan-Armenia, Turkey-Armenia and Russia-Georgia problems through this platform.

AA