French minister welcomes steps of all sides to resolve Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

"Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that France was satisfied with the improvement of relations between Turkey and Armenia, and we've been working on the peaceful resolution of this issue. In particular, I myself many years appealed to the Government of Turkey to open the land border with Armenia. Both Turkey and Armenia will benefit from this," Lellouche said.

Speaking about the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the French minister said its resolution is very important for Europe, Turkey, Armenia, as well as for the peaceful development of the region.

He added that during his visit to Strasbourg he met with the delegations of Turkey and Russia.

"I informed the head of the Turkish delegation that will be in Paris during the visit of Turkish President Abdullah Gul scheduled for October 7, in the framework of the Turkish Cultural Season" in France. Mr Gul is a friend of France. His visit is expected to to even more strengthen bilateral ties between our countries," Lellouche said.

He noted that he would not go into details of local conflicts that pose a threat to European security, although he has visited both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and Nagorno-Karabakh, and understands the complexity of the problem.

"I am confident that such conflicts can not be resolved by the statements in the media, but only through negotiations. We welcome the steps of the sides which lead to the peaceful resolution of conflict," Lellouche added.

He added that he plans to visit the South Caucasus. "It's been three months since I was appointed Minister for European Affairs of France. I plan to visit the region. If there had been positive developments in the negotiations and the parties will not be against France's participation in conflict resolution, we are very pleased to participate in this," the minister said.

/Trend News/