LEVON MELIK-SHAHNAZARYAN: OPENING OF THE BORDER PREGNANT WITH SERIOUS DANGERS

armradio.am
26.09.2008 14:55

The opening of the Armenian-Turkish border is pregnant with serious
dangers, including those of economic nature: in particular, it
will cause great harm to light industry, political scientist Levon
Melik-Shahnazaryan told a press conference today. However, according
to him, the greatest danger is that Turkey will start accusing Armenia
of providing camps to the Kurdish Workers’ Party.

According to Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan, Turkey is currently competing
with Russia, Iran and the United States to enlarge its influence in
the region.

Turning to Turkey’s willingness to act as mediator in the Karabakh
conflict settlement, the political scientist noted that Armenia does
not need such a mediator. In his words, the mediator that considers
its people and the people of Azerbaijan different parts of the same
nation cannot be unbiased.

Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan is assured that the problem of
Armenian-Turkish relations will not be solved either now or in the
time of coming generations. "Civilization lays in the basis of the
controversies of those relations, and we need to live many centuries
in the same civilization to overcome it," he said.