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Turkey to Lobby Armenian Support in OSCE

Turkish President Abdullah Gul reportedly is to send Turkish diplomat Ersin Ercin to Yerevan in early March.

According to Haberturk, the Turkish diplomat is to deliver a personal message from the Turkish president to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, asking for Armenia’s support for Ercin’s candidacy in the upcoming elections of the OSCE Secretary General, report various Azerbaijani news media.

The online news outlet said that the Turkish representative was one of the main candidates for the post of OSCE secretary general.

He already has the support of 25 of the 52 OSCE member states.

The new secretary general will replace Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, whose term expires in spring 2011.

Ambassador Ercin believes his visit to Yerevan will remove psychological barriers between the countries.“I will represent an international organization rather than a separate country. If I were Armenian or Greek, I would support the Turkish representative.”

The three other candidates for the OSCE Secretary General post are OSCE PA President Joao Soares, Austria’s former foreign minister Ursula Plassnik and UN special representative for Kosovo Lamberto Zannier (Italy).