ARMENIAN LEADER CALLS FOR BETTER TIES WITH TURKEY

Hurriyet
July 21 2008
Turkey

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan called on Monday for closer ties with
Turkey, 15 years after the two nations severed diplomatic relations
over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, news wires reported.

Both Armenia and Turkey will gain from established relations, Sargsyan
told at a press conference.

"Certainly, in both countries there are people who think the opposite
but this does not mean that we must sit idly by," he was quoted by
Interfax as saying.

"The important thing is that in relations between Armenia and Turkey
a trend is taking shape for being ready to start a healthy discussion
of the existing problems," he also said.

Contacts between Armenian and Turkish diplomatic circles never
ceased and there is nothing sensational about Armenian and Turkish
representatives meeting in Bern, Sargsyan added.

Turkish and Armenian officials held a series of secret meetings in the
capital of Switzerland on July 8. This meeting Sargsyan’s proposal for
"a fresh start" with the goal of normalizing relations with Turkey
and opening the border.

Sargsyan also invited Turkish President Abdullah Gul to watch a
football match between the two country’s national teams on Sept 6 to
mark "a new symbolic start in the two countries’ relations".

The Turkish president’s visit to Armenia may have a positive effect
on the discussion of the existing issues between our countries,
Sargsyan told at Monday’s conference.

"When it comes to a neighboring country, one does not speak about
deadlines, one has to wait as long as it takes," he said when asked
how long he is willing to wait for the Turkish president’s reply to
the invitation to visit Yerevan.

Turkish officials told last week the invitation has been evaluated and
did not rule out accepting it since it would not be an official visit.

Turkey is among the first countries that recognized Armenia when it
declared its independency. However there is no diplomatic relations
between two countries, as Armenia presses the international community
to admit the so-called "genocide" claims instead of accepting Turkey’s
call to investigate the allegations, and its invasion of 20 percent
of Azerbaijani territory despite U.N. Security Council resolutions
on the issue.