Envoy denies Turkey to open Armenian border

ANS TV, Baku
17 Jun 04

[Presenter] Although the report that Turkey will open its borders
with Armenia was on the web site of the Turkish NTV channel, it
was removed later, the Turkish ambassador to Azerbaijan, Ahmet Unal
Cevikoz, said, adding that the Turkish Foreign Ministry has reacted
strongly to the report.

[Ahmet Unal Cevikoz] All these are wrong reports. Following this
report on the NTV web site, the Foreign Ministry told NTV that the
report was wrong and wide of the mark, and should be taken off the
air. In turn, NTV did not broadcast it.

I want to state clearly that at present, Turkey is not thinking of
opening its borders with Armenia and in this connection, there are
no changes in Turkey’s official policy pursued by our president,
prime minister and foreign minister. Our expectations to normalize
relations between Turkey and Armenia are obvious.

First of all, Armenia should demonstrate its desire for
good-neighbourly relations both with Azerbaijan and Turkey, vacate
Azerbaijan’s occupied lands and resolve the Nagornyy Karabakh issue
within the framework of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and in
line with international legal norms.