Hürriyet, Turkey
April 5 2009

Armenian foreign minister to visit Turkey as relations warm

ISTANBUL – Armenia’s foreign minister will visit Turkey this week, the
Interfax news agency reported Sunday, in the latest sign of a warming
in relations between the two countries after decades of broken ties.

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian begins a two-day visit on
Monday to attend a United Nation’s cultural forum in Istanbul, the
news agency said, citing the foreign ministry in Yerevan.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations and their border has
been closed for more than a decade over Armenia’s invasion of 20
percent territory of Azerbaijan – a frozen conflict legacy of the
Soviet Union called Nagorno-Karabakh.

Both countries have however been engaged in a normalization process
since Turkish President Abdullah Gul paid a landmark visit to Yerevan
last year to watch a World Cup qualifying football match between the
countries national teams.

Officials from the two countries have stepped up contacts in recent
months, including Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Armenian
President Serzh Sarkisian, who held a landmark bilateral meeting in
January.

Nalbandian visited Turkey last November.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress