ARMENIA SAYS DEAL WITH TURKEY COULD BE REACHED SOON
Hasmik Lazarian

Reuters UK
April 16 2009

* Armenia says deal on ties possible "in near future"

* Azerbaijan opposed without progress on Nagorno-Karabakh

* Turkey says it favours "comprehensive solution"

Armenia said on Thursday it was close to establishing diplomatic
relations with Turkey after a century of hostility, but Turkish ally
Azerbaijan stressed its opposition.

High-level talks between Ankara and Yerevan began last year and
expectations have been rising of a deal that could include Turkey
opening its border with Armenia. Turkey hopes a deal on Armenia will
improve its chances of joining the European Union.

"The negotiations are ongoing and progress has been registered," Edward
Nalbandian, the Armenian foreign minister, told reporters during a
Black Sea economic conference attended by his Turkish counterpart
Ali Babacan.

"We think we can really get close and resolve this question in the
near future."

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of its
traditional Muslim ally Azerbaijan, which was fighting Armenian-backed
separatists in the breakaway mountain region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Turkey and Armenia trace their own dispute to the First World War
killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks, which Armenia describes as
genocide.

But diplomats say Turkish concern over the potential backlash in
Azerbaijan could yet delay the deal.

OIL AND GAS

Azerbaijan, a supplier of oil and gas to Europe, insists any deal
between Turkey and Armenia can only follow concessions from Armenia on
Nagorno-Karabakh, where a fragile ceasefire holds but a peace accord
has never been signed.

Speaking to reporters on his plane to Yerevan, Babacan said: "We want
a comprehensive solution and full normalisation. We want a solution
based on a wide perspective."

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said this month the deadlock
over Nagorno-Karabakh should be resolved before any deal is struck
between Turkey and Armenia.

Western diplomats are concerned that Azerbaijan, in retaliation for the
border reopening, might be unwilling to sell its gas in future through
Turkey to Europe, and instead send most of it to Russia for re-export.

"Our position is the following — the establishment of relations
between Armenia and Turkey can be connected only with the resolving of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Azeri deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud
Mammad-Guliev said in Yerevan.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev was in Moscow on Thursday, three weeks
after Azeri state energy firm Socar signed a memorandum with Russian
gas export monopoly Gazprom about starting talks on Russia buying
Azeri gas for export to Europe from 2010.

Both the EU and U.S. President Barack Obama, during a visit
to Turkey last week, have urged Turkey to normalise ties with
Armenia.