OPENING OF TURKISH-ARMENIAN BORDER REQUIRES OFFICIAL YEREVAN REFUSE FROM TERRITORIAL CLAIMS: HEAD OF TURKISH DELEGATION TO PACE
ARMINFO News Agency
October 6, 2005
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 6. ARMINFO. Opening of the Turkish-Armenian border,
first of all, requires official Yerevan to establish normal relations
with its neighbors and refuse from territorial claims. Otherwise, one
should not expect normalization of the Turkish-Armenian relations,
Head of the Turkish delegation to PACE Murad Mercan said in an
interview to the Trend.
Turkey and the EU have negotiated for over 10 years and the framework
agreement does not impose any obligations of Turkey to Armenia,
Mercan said.
Regarding the discussions of two documents on the Armenian Genocide
at the US Congress, he said anti-Turkish documents are considered
world wide due to the Armenian lobby. M. Mercan noted the importance
of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project railway for raising the turnover of
Turkey and the Eastern states. He called natural the problems with
the project and expressed confidence in their gradual settlement. He
reiterated that Turkey and Azerbaijan are fraternal states that will
always support each other.