MOST ARMENIANS EXPECT NO WARM-UP WITH TURKEY – GALLUP

AzerNews Weekly
Dec 3 2008
Azerbaijan

Most Armenians have little hope for normalizing the country`s relations
with neighboring Turkey, which have been marred by historic tensions,
an influential Gallup poll has revealed.

Only seven per cent of poll respondents said they anticipated Turkey`s
becoming a reliable partner for Armenia in the future.

As for the prospect of Ankara`s recognizing the alleged Armenian
genocide, only a minute portion of those polled cited this as a
possibility.

With regard to the possible opening of the Armenia-Turkey border,
which has been closed since 1993, optimistic respondents gave the
chances of its opening four points on a 10-point scale.

The poll results were released just as relations between the two
countries have recently begun to improve. Following secret talks
between Turkish and Armenian diplomats in Bern in July, Turkish and
Armenian leaders met to attend a 2010 World Cup qualifying soccer
match in Yerevan early in September when Abdullah Gul became the
first Turkish leader to visit Armenia. Yerevan saw the visit as an
opportunity to normalize relations with the neighboring country,
where no diplomatic ties exist. This was followed by a tripartite
meeting of the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers
in New York in late September. Further, Armenian Foreign Minister
Eduard Nalbandian visited Turkey on November 24 where the parties
discussed ways of normalizing relations between Ankara and Yerevan.