"In the new era for the Turkish-Armenian relations, there will be a new momentum in dialogue and we are pretty hopeful for the new era as we have seen a solution-oriented position on the part of Armenia," Ali Babacan told a televised interview on Wednesday.

Babacan however said "there were quite a few problematic issues" between Turkey and Armenia, such as the incidents of 1915, the Upper Karabakh problem. The two countries also have no diplomatic relations.

Babacan said he had been talking Turkish-Armenian relations with his counterpart, Eduard Nalbandian, as well as relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"We have an ongoing process between the foreign ministers of the two countries and we are in search of solutions to the problem," Babacan said.

Babacan said he might hold a joint meeting with Azeri and Armenian foreign ministers on the sidelines of UN General Assembly meetings in New York.

"Armenia seems to have passed a threshold now, and the diplomatic traffic and our impression from the Armenian president and the foreign minister reveals that there is a strong will for solution in Armenia," Babacan said.

"They do understand our sensitivities and we do understand theirs. We have many reasons to be optimistic," he said.

aa