OSKANYAN SAYS TURKEY MUST OPEN THE BORDER

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 19 2007

Armenia does not offer stipulations for setting up relations with
Turkey, stated the Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanyan during
the parliamentary hearings on the Armenian and Turkish relations. "We
are ready to discuss any issue with the Rurkish government," he said,
News Armenia reports.

According to him, however, official Ankara should not offer
stipulations and open the border with Armenia. The foreign minister
of Armenia said as of now Turkey stipulates that Armenia solve the
Karabakh issue in favor of Azerbaijan, recognize the present border
with Turkey and reject the policy of international recognition of
the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

"The Armenian and Turkish relations are highly complicated, and the
burden of the past is lying heavily on them, however, Armenia and
Turkey remain neighbors, and it is something inevitable.

Consequently, it is necessary to set up diplomatic relations between
the two countries," Oskanyan emphasized.

The representatives of a number of Armenian and international
organizations and political parties took part in the two-day
hearings. The EU’s special representative for the South Caucasus
Peter Semneby is expected to address the hearings.