State Department: U.S. is neutral over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and supports OSCE Minsk Group's efforts

The U.S. took a neutral position on the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and highly supports the OSCE Minsk Group's efforts, U.S. State Department Acting Deputy Spokesman Mark C. Toner said in an interview with the Azerbaijani representation of the 'Voice of America'.

There is no cooling in the Azerbaijani-U.S. relations, Toner said.  As co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, the United States for a long period has made every effort to rapidly resolve the protracted conflict together with Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"The United States does not recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh. We are not at anyone's side, we support the Minsk Group and the peaceful settlement of the conflict," he said.

Toner also touched the issue of the Turkish-Armenian negotiations. "We stand for the normalization of the Turkish-Armenian relations, which corresponds to the interests of the region. At the same time, we highly support the Minsk process. We would like to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and to work with both Azerbaijan and Armenia," Toner added.

Speaking about the meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton and Ankara' role in resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, Toner said that the country as a strong partner and ally of the United States plays a constructive role in the region.

"Turkey is a strong partner and ally in the region. We are confident that this country plays a constructive role in the region. Of course, the Davutoglu-Clinton meeting discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Minsk process. Our objective in the region is normalization of the Turkish -Armenian and Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, and we pledged to achieve these objectives, "Toner said.


/Trend/