Turkish president praises Swiss role in Armenian-Turkish deal

Speaking in the Swiss parliament on Thursday, Turkish president Abdullah Gul praised Switzerlands "tolerant and understanding stance towards different ethnical and religious groups living in the country, Turkish news agency Cihan reported.

In his address to the Federal Assembly of Switzerland, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said he believed his current visit would bring Turkey and Switzerland closer.

Gul said the two countries had the potential to improve their economic and commercial ties, as well as their relations in education, science, culture and social areas.

"We have taken important steps in an effort to activate this potential in the recent term. We have made a particularly remarkable progress in improving our commercial ties and investments," Gul said.

Speaking during Gul's visit to the Swiss parliament, President of the Swiss Confederation Doris Leuthard said that her country believed efforts should continue in the dialogue and cooperation process Turkey and Armenia had been carrying out with a great courage in recent years.

She said Switzerland also hoped that the normalization process between the two countries would continue.