RUBEN SAFRASTIAN DOES NOT EXCLUDE THAT TURKEY MAY MAKE VISA REGIME FOR CITIZENS OF ARMENIA MORE STRICT

Noyan Tapan
Oct 17 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Egemen Bagic, the Foreign Relations
Advisor to the Prime Minister of Turkey, declared the other day that
Turkey will introduce sanctions against Armenia in connection with
the adoption of Resolution 106 on the Armenian Genocide by the Foreign
Relations Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives. According
to the information provided to a Noyan Tapan correspondent by Ruben
Safrastian, the Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the
National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, the Turkish political elite
repeatedly made statements in the press threatening Armenia yet before
the Commission started to consider that issue.

Commenting on the recent statements of Turkish high-ranking officials,
Ruben Safrastian regarded the threats of the Turkish side as absurd. He
found difficulty in saying what actions Turkey may undertake against
Armenia.

Ruben Safrastian considered the prohibition placed on the export of
Turkish goods into Armenia through a third country as not real. In
addition to this, he did not exclude that Turkey may take measures
for making the visa regime for the citizens of Armenia more strict.