TURKEY NOT TO OPEN BORDER WITH ARMENIA UNTIL AZERBAIJAN’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY RESTORED – STATE MINISTER

Interfax
Dec 4 2008
Russia

The Turkish-Armenian border could be opened only after Armenia gives
up distorting history and restores Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity,
Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said.

"We are open to developing relations with Armenia, to open borders,
and to develop trade," Tuzmen told an Azeri-Turkish business forum
in Baku on Thursday.

"We do not oppose developing trade relations, which will have a
positive influence on the development of the whole region; however,
prior to this historians should solve some issues and Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity should be restored," the state minister said.

There are still no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey,
because of the 1915 events in the Ottoman Empire. A number of nations
recognized the events, which claimed more than 1.5 million lives as
genocide of the Armenian people. Armenia wants Turkey to recognize
the genocide, but Turkey refuses to do so. Turkey demands that the
Nagorno- Karabakh conflict be resolved on the basis of Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity.