DIRECTOR OF ARMENIAN CENTRE FOR NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES THINKS ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER WILL BE OPENED THIS YEAR

ArmInfo
2009-04-01 16:49:00

ArmInfo. The Armenian-Turkish border will be opened this year after
May, Director of Armenian Centre for National and International
Studies, Richard Giragosyan, told journalists today.

‘I think Turkish diplomates will wait for development of events
after US president’s visit to Turkey and his speech on 24 April. But
irrespective of the fact is the USA recognizes the genocide or not,
Armenia does not own many levers of affecting Turkey. The Armenian
party has always insisted on opening the border to Armenia by Turkey
and starting normal diplomatic relations without pre-conditions’, –
he said.

To note, new stage of the Armenian-Turkish relations started on
6 September 2008, when President of Turkey Abdullah Gul visited
Yerevan for the first time by invitation of President of Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan to watch the football match between the national teams
of Armenia and Turkey. The diplomatic relations between Armenia and
Turkey have been broken and the border shut down since 1993 by the
initiative of official Ankara.