Erdoğan meets four foreign ministers from Caucasus

Duvar English

The 3rd Meeting of the South Caucasus Regional Cooperation Platform was held on Oct. 18 in Istanbul with the participation of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakchi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

After Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also met with his four counterparts, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received the foreign ministers.

According to the Anadolu Agency, Erdoğan met with the four ministers at the Dolmabahçe Palace in a meeting closed to press.

Ministers mentions longing for Georgia, possible peace process

Speaking at the meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan described the 3+3 platform as “a space for consultations aimed at achieving lasting peace in the South Caucasus and evaluating cooperation opportunities.”

Fidan added, “Although the name of the platform is 3+3, unfortunately we are missing one participant in the hall. I would like to express once again in front of you that Georgia, our close neighbor and friend, has a permanent place and can be included in this platform whenever it wishes.”

After a conference following the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov stated that Armenia and Azerbaijan could use the platform to work on a peace treaty. 

“Today, we proposed that if they are ready, they use the 3+3 platform to work on a peace treaty, which would be natural given that this format brings together the neighbors of Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, it’s up to Baku and Yerevan to decide,” Lavrov said.

In September 2023, Azerbaijan established full control in Karabakh following an intense military campaign resulting of displacement of thousands of Armenians.

Lavrov also touched upon Armenian-Turkish normalization, mentioning that Russia played an active role in initiating the process.

“There are no meetings planned for now, as our Armenian colleagues have taken a break. They believe that they first need to communicate directly with the Turkish side and determine the next steps,” Russian minister noted.

The platform was created on the initiative of President Erdoğan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev shortly after the end of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in December 2020.

The countries reiterated that they keep their doors open to Georgia, which has so far refused to attend the first two meetings due to its relations with Russia. 

The first meeting of the platform was held in Moscow, Russia, in 2021 with the participation of deputy foreign ministers. The second meeting of the platform was held in the Iranian capital Tehran in 2023 at the ministerial level.