TURKISH PM TO VISIT ARMENIA FOR BLACK SEA MEETING

April 15 2009
Turkey

Turkish FM Babacan will attend a meeting of the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation in Yerevan.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan will travel to Armenia on Thursday
for a regional summit in a step towards restoring diplomatic ties
after a century of hostility between the neighbours.

Babacan will attend a meeting of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
in Yerevan, the Foreign Ministry said in an e-mailed statement on
Wednesday.

Turkey and Armenia, which have no diplomatic ties, have been engaged
in high-level talks since last year. Turkish President Abdullah Gul
travelled to Yerevan last year to attend a football match between
the two countries.

Turkey is considering opening the border with Armenia, which it closed
in 1993 in solidarity with its traditional, Muslim ally Azerbaijan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are in dispute over the breakaway enclave of
Nagorno Karabakh, controlled by ethnic Armenians.

Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians were killed by Ottoman
Turks during World War One and that Muslims also died in internecine
fighting, but denies that up to 1.5 million died