Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Friday chaired the third meeting of the South Caucasus Regional Cooperation Platform in Istanbul as Türkiye pushed for lasting peace in the region that was troubled by several conflicts.

"Our perspective on the South Caucasus is also based on a sense of regional ownership. We believe that the states of the region know the regional problems best and are capable of solving them," said Fidan in his opening speech at the meeting.

Russia's Sergey Lavrov, Azerbaijan’s Jeyhun Bayramov, Armenia’s Ararat Mirzoyan and Iran’s recently appointed Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi came together to discuss steps that can be taken to establish stability and enhance prosperity in the region, including concrete cooperation projects to strengthen regional connectivity.

They also tackled prominent regional and international developments, most notably the efforts to resolve the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict.

Baku and Yerevan are currently working to sign a peace treaty, which they say is 80% complete, including border delineation, to end the decadeslong dispute over the mountainous Karabakh enclave, but there are still several stumbling blocks in negotiations. Azerbaijan insists Armenia must change its Constitution to remove indirect references to Karabakh's "independence" before signing a peace treaty.

"The platform's primary goal is to respond to the need for a forum where all issues closely related to the South Caucasus can be addressed," Fidan said Friday.

He expressed Türkiye’s commitment to establishing peace and stability in the South Caucasus, emphasizing that regional ownership is the most effective method for resolving issues between the countries.

He added that Ankara fully supports the ongoing peace treaty negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, with whom Türkiye is also working to normalize relations.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Türkiye was among the first countries to recognize Armenia’s independence on Sept. 21, 1991. But in 1993, Türkiye closed its border and cut ties after Armenia's illegal occupation of Karabakh.

Ties further deteriorated over Armenia’s insistence on Türkiye’s recognition of the so-called Armenian genocide of 1915, something Türkiye has categorically rejected for decades.

Following the 2020 Karabakh war, which saw Azerbaijan liberate territory captured by Armenia, Turkish-Armenian relations entered a new phase. In December 2021, both countries appointed special representatives to talk about the normalization process.

"Unfortunately, we are missing one participant in the room," Fidan continued. "I would like to reiterate before you all that our close neighbor and friend, Georgia, has a permanent place here and can join this platform whenever it wishes."

Georgia was invited to the Platform, but Tbilisi’s hostilities with Russia apparently prevented its participation in previous meetings.

Fidan separately met with Lavrov on the margins of the meeting, their first since they met on the sidelines of the ministerial-level events of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Laos in July.

He also held closed-door talks with Mirzoyan, Bayramov and Araqchi to discuss bilateral ties.

Araqchi’s visit is also part of his regional tour to discuss ways to stop Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip. While Ankara and Tehran are on opposing sides in the Syrian civil war and the Karabakh conflict, they are both among staunch supporters of the Hamas liberation movement.

Fidan and the ministers also addressed economic cooperation as a confidence-building measure, particularly for connectivity and integration.

One such interconnectivity opportunity is the Zangezur Corridor. The corridor is a transportation concept that is being gradually implemented to secure Azerbaijan's access to the Nakhchivan exclave by skipping Armenia.

It, however, remains a contentious issue in peace talks.

Moscow supports Azerbaijan’s demand to get unimpeded access to the Nakhchivan enclave by opening the Zangezur Corridor through Armenia, which would cut off Iran’s direct land access to Armenia.

The corridor is a geopolitical link for Türkiye to Azerbaijan and, beyond that, Central Asia.

Moscow and Baku want Russia to monitor and control the corridor, but Yerevan and Tehran oppose such a scheme and argue that even if a transport route were to be established, Armenia should have control over it.

Türkiye supports the Zangezur Corridor project. Erdoğan, who will receive Russian, Armenian, Iranian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers on Friday, hailed the corridor in July, defining it as a "strategic route that will serve in everyone’s interest, especially Azerbaijan, Armenia and Iran" and said Tehran and Baku would be "relieved" if it becomes operational.

The ministers also adopted a joint declaration at the meeting, which highlighted the promotion of dialogue in resolving outstanding issues, as well as the necessity of peaceful solutions to political disputes with the principles of the Charter.

The Platform is the brainchild of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

It was established shortly after the end of the Second Karabakh War in December 2020 to develop cooperation between countries in the region, which is rich in energy resources and bridges Russia and Asian countries to the West.

The first meeting of the Platform was held at the deputy foreign minister level in Moscow in 2021, while the second meeting was held at the foreign minister level last year in Tehran.