HISTORY HAMPERS ARMENIAN-TURKISH DIALOGUE

PanARMENIAN.Net
25.11.2008 14:20 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ It’s history that hampers Armenian-Turkish dialogue,
according to a Turkish expert.

"Armenia has not recognized the Kars and Moscow Treaties’ provisions
on borders so far, while Turkey sets it as a precondition for
establishment of diplomatic relations. True, the declaration on
Armenia’s independence reads that Armenia doesn’t set territorial
claims to Turkey. However, Eastern Turkey is fixed there as Western
Armenia, what is inadmissible for us," Aybars Gorgulu, expert at
Sabanci University and Assistant Program Director of TESEV Foreign
Policy Program, said in an interview with PanARMENIAN.Net.

"I would like to remind that article 11 of the declaration says that
Armenia supports the campaign for worldwide recognition of the Armenian
Genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Meanwhile, present-day
Turkey has nothing in common with the Ottoman Empire and is not its
legal successor. In short, recognition of Turkey’s borders is an
important prerequisite for normalization of bilateral relations,"
he said.