AEPLAC DIRECTOR: FREEZING TURKEY-EU NEGOTIATIONS IS TO THE ADVANTAGE OF ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Dec 19 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 19, NOYAN TAPAN. Freezing the negotiations
on Turkey’s joining the European Union is to the advantage of
Armenia in terms of formation of some preconditions for opening
the Armenian-Turkish border. The Director of the Armenian-European
Policy and Legal Advice Centre (AEPLAC) Tigran Jrbashian expressed
this opinion at the December 19 press conference. According to him,
the opportunties to be created as a result of opening the border are
most important, as these opportunities are related to a decline in
transportation costs of Armenian goods to Europe via Mediterranean
ports. In the speaker’s opinion, by opening its border with Armenia,
Turkey in its turn may create favorable conditions for Eastern Turkey’s
development because Armenia is more developed than the eastern regions
of Turkey. In his words, in terms of its economy Western Turkey
is three times as much developed as Eastern Turkey (by its economic
product per capita), and during the negotiations the EU put forward the
requirement that Turkey should solve the problem of disproportional
regional development. T. Jrbashian said that the "cheapest version"
of the problem’s solution is to open the Armenian-Turkish border.