Ankara hails Astrakhan agreement

Ankara hailed the agreement achieved by Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents during the October 27 meeting brokered by their Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev at the Russian city of Astrakhan, a statement by Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

"Turkey hopes that the Astrakhan Summit will make positive contributions to the solution process by adding momentum to the efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. We also wish that steps to be taken on humanitarian issues will be supported with concrete initiatives. Turkey is determined to fully support initiatives that will serve creation of a ground for compromise between the parties," read the statement.

During the October 27 meeting in Astrakhan the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev made a joint statement that envisages the exchange of prisoners of war and repatriation of the corpses of civilians and military personnel killed on the line of contact.