ARMENIAN FM ‘OPTIMISTIC’ ON NORMALIZING TIES WITH TURKEY

Agence France Presse — English
November 24, 2008 Monday 4:04 PM GMT

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian said Monday that he was
optimistic that recent dialogue with Turkey would help normalize
troubled relations between the two neighbours.

"I think this is a very good moment and we have a chance to do it
now, to turn the page together, to open the border, to normalize
relations," Nalbandian told a press conference here ahead of talks
with this Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties and their border has been
closed for more than a decade. Their relationship has been hostage
to the deep differences over the World War I massacres of Armenians
under the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of Turkey.

In September, Turkish President Abdullah Gul became the first Turkish
head of state to visit Armenia, boosting a tentative dialogue process
between the two countries to overcome their history of enmity.

"We are continuing until now in a positive way. I am optimistic
because I don’t see that we have any serious obstacle to normalize
our relations," Nalbandian said.

He reiterated that Armenia was ready to establish diplomatic relations
and open its border with Turkey "without any preconditions."

"We await the same approach from Turkey," he added, saying that a
quick reconciliation with Ankara was not impossible.

Even though Turkey was one of the first countries to recognise
Armenia when it gained independence in 1991, Ankara has refused to
establish diplomatic ties because of Yerevan’s campaign to have the
mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during World War
I classified as a genocide.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their people were systematically
killed by Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1917 as their empire fell
apart — a claim supported by several other countries.

Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that between 300,000
and 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife
when Armenians took up arms for independence in eastern Anatolia and
sided with invading Russian troops.

In 1993, Turkey also shut its border with Armenia in a show of
solidarity with its close ally Azerbaijan over Nagorny-Karabakh — an
Armenian-majority enclave in Azerbaijan which declared independence —
dealing a heavy blow to the impoverished nation.

Nalbandian arrived in Turkey early Monday to visit the headquartes
of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation — whose rotating six-month
presidency Armenia took over on November 1 — and for talks with
Babacan before leaving later in the day.

The two men are not expected to make a statement after their talks.