KIRO MANOYAN: THE BORDER MAY BE OPENED EARLIER THAN WE EXPECT
armradio.am
04.09.2008 17:53
It would be an exaggeration to expect that a new atmosphere could be
established in the Armenian-Turkish relations after Turkish President
Abdullah Gul’s visit. Certainly, Guls’ visit to Armenia exceptionally
for the purpose of propaganda will yield no results from the point
of view of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, Head of the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Bureau’s Hay Dat and Political
Affairs Office Kiro Manoyan told a press conference today. It will be
a different thing if Turkey demonstrates political will to reconsider
the policy towards Armenia it has been leading for 17 years. However,
Kiro Manoyan has no special bases for optimism.
Kiro Manoyan does not exclude, but does not think, either, that
Gul will refuse from visiting Armenia the last day. "It will work
against them from the point of view of propaganda. If it is allowed
to hold demonstrations against the President in our country, then it
is allowed to rally against his guests until it remains within the
norms accepted in politics. One should not forget that this is the
first ever visit of the Turkish President to Armenia, and we should
remind him that this visit does not mean anything, if the questions
we are going to raise during our political actions are not solved.
According to Mr. Manoyan, the opening of the bo rder is not
a solution. We need diplomatic relations, which should be
established. Meanwhile, he believes that the border may be opened
earlier than we expect.