Deputy: Armenian-Turkish state border to be opened in two-three years

YEREVAN, March 9. /ARKA/. Head of parliamentary fraction of the
governing Republican Party of Armenia Galust Sahakyan believes the
Armenia-Turkish border will be opened in the nearest couple of years.

At a press-conference on Monday he said there is a base for that.
`Turkey tends to become a member of the European Union, but EU
countries do not recognize economic borders,’ said Sahakyan.

According to him the bilateral relations that have been formed in the
result of contacts between presidents of Armenia and Turkey will
contribute to opening of the border in the nearest couple of years.

At the same time Sahakyan reminded that Armenia is ready to open the
borders without any preconditions. Recently a thaw is observed in the
relations between Armenia and Turkey. Last September 6, Turkish
President Abdullah Gul was in Yerevan for the first time at the
invitation of his Armenian counterpart to be present at a football
match between the Armenian and Turkish national teams as part of the
2010 World Cup Qualifiers. Sargsyan’s return visit to Turkey is
expected.

There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey and the
state border has been closed since 1993 on Ankara’s initiative. Turkey
has set a number of pre-conditions for improving bilateral relations,
namely, Armenia’s abandoning the policy of international recognition of
the Armenian Genocide and recognizing Turkey’s present-day borders. G.
S. `0–