Armenian foreign minister slams Turkey, expects EU to pressure Turkey
to open ties, border

AP Worldstream
May 26, 2005

The Armenian foreign minister said Thursday the European Union should
put more pressure on Turkey to open its border with Armenia.

Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan called on the EU to be more assertive
and make Ankara open “the last closed border in Europe.”

“It’s the Turkish side that keeps it closed which we do not understand,
and we expect that the EU be more assertive on this matter, asking
Turkey to open the border with Armenia,” he said during a visit to
Helsinki.

The two countries sharply disagree over the mass killings of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks during World War I, which Armenians say was genocide.

Turkey has indicated the countries might establish political ties if
Armenia agreed to join a joint commission to investigate the killings.

Oskanyan, who met with his Finnish counterpart, Erkki Tuomioja, called
Turkey’s preconditions “unacceptable.”

“We have to follow the example of other European countries _ there are
hardly any two countries in Europe or anywhere else that do not have
differences in the interpretation of their past. But those things do
not stop them from having normal ties and having diplomatic relations,
trade relations, and communication as neighbors,” Oskanyan said.

Armenia has previously insisted Turkey should not become an EU member
until it acknowledges genocide. Turkey is scheduled to start
membership negotiations with the European Union in October.