ARMENIA SEES NO REASON FOR "TURKEY TO KEEP BORDERS CLOSED"

Azg
Feb 12 2008
Armenia

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has said that there is no
reason for Turkey to keep its border with Armenia closed, dismissing
arguments based on the conflict over Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagornyy
Karabakh region and Armenia’s efforts to have the mass killings of
Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 recognized as genocide. Oskanyan
was speaking after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
speech at the Munich Security Conference on 9 February. The following
is the text of unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Azg on 12
February entitled "’Our countries are not at war at this moment’,
but the border is closed":

The Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Armenia has reported that
the [Armenian Foreign] Minister Vardan Oskanyan made comments at the
44th Munich Security Conference after the speech by the Turkish prime
minister [Recep Tayyip Erdogan].

Taking into consideration that the Turkish prime minister is proud
of the democratization process in Turkey and the strategic role of
his country in establishment of peace and stability, Oskanyan said:
Mister Prime Minister, as you know the border between our countries
is closed from Turkish side. We have often raised this issue – noting
that we would like to have normal relations with Turkey. However,
we heard you clearly and precisely repeating the two major reasons
or pretences to keep the border closed.

The first reason you mentioned was Armenia’s involvement in the
Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, the second one was [its] attempts
to have the Armenian genocide recognized. However, the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict is going on between Armenians and Azerbaijanis,
and recognition of the Genocide is our moral, historical obligation.

Oskanyan raised the issue that our countries are not at war at this
moment, and given that there is no war, are there reasons, which are
always mentioned sufficient, to justify keeping the borders between
our states closed? Oskanyan also noted that Turkey can become a
natural bridge between the Caucasus, the European Union and NATO.

It is reported that the Turkish prime minister did not answer
Oskanyan’s questions. He only repeated the proposal to establish a
commission of historians, saying that the massacres of 1915 have not
been historically proved and inviting historians and archaeologists on
the one hand to study the issue, and on the other to deny statements
that the Genocide is part of Turkish culture.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress