Mon 09 November 2009 | 11:14 GMT Text size:

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will ask US President Barack Obama to push for regulation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict by 2010, according to a Turkish newspaper.

In an article headlined “Going to Obama with a Karabakh request”, Istanbul-based daily Cumhuriyet said that the Karabakh conflict will be one of the issues discussed when Erdogan meets Obama in Washington on 7 December.

According to sources in the prime minister's office, Erdogan is going to tell Obama that if the Karabakh conflict is not settled by 2010, this will create problems in the process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations. Erdogan will ask Obama for support in speeding up the work of the OSCE Minsk Group mediators and in urging Russia and France to be more determined in settling the conflict.

Karabakh is the second issue that Erdogan will raise with Obama, Cumhuriyet said. The first is the Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK. 

They will also discuss the Cyprus conflict, Israel's blockade of Gaza, the Bosnia-Herzegovina power crisis and the security of energy supply routes.

Erdogan spoke about Azerbaijan to the political board of the Istanbul organization of his ruling Justice and Development Party , Hurriyet newspaper reported on Sunday. "We have clearly stated that normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia directly depends on normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia," the prime minister said.

“There are serious issues in normalization of relations with Armenia that must be settled. And this is primarily the settlement of the Karabakh problem,” Erdogan said.

Cumhuriyet  Hurriyet