TURKEY, ARMENIA SAY THEY ARE NEAR RESTORING TIES

PR-Inside.com
April 16 2009
YEREVAN

Armenia and Turkey said Thursday they are close to restoring full
relations after 15 years of disagreements over claims of genocide
against Armenians under Ottoman rule.

NATO-member Turkey and Armenia, a former Soviet republic, also hope
to reopen their shared border, closed in 1993 _ a goal encouraged by
the European Union and the United States.

"We could be very close to settling the issue in the near future,"
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said after holding talks
with Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan during a Black Sea economic
conference in Yerevan.

Babacan said Turkish leaders want an "all-encompassing" solution and
"full normalization" of ties, according to comments broadcast by
Turkey’s NTV television after he returned to Ankara.

Both sides said they had made progress during Thursday’s talks. But
neither gave any hints of how they might resolve the key point of
contention _ Armenia’s assertion that the Ottoman-era killings of
Armenians amounted to genocide.

Turkey disputes the claim, saying there was no systematic campaign to
wipe out Armenians, despite estimates that up to 1.5 million Armenians
died in what is widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of
the 20th century.

The two countries also differ over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh
region, controlled by Armenia after a six-year war that broke out in
the waning days of the Soviet Union.

Turkey wants its talks with Armenia to proceed in parallel with
negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, an ally of Turkey.

Azerbaijan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mamadkuliyev, also in
Yerevan for the Black Sea conference, said his country was closely
following the talks between Turkey and Armenia.

"Steps to rebuild relations between Armenia and Turkey must be linked
to settling the (Nagorno-Karabakh) conflict," he said.

The U.S. and EU have urged Turkey and Armenia to resolve their
differences.

President Barack Obama _ who seeks Turkey’s support for U.S. military
goals in Iraq and Afghanistan _ is expected to issue a closely
scrutinized statement marking Armenian remembrance day on April 24.

Obama had referred to the "Armenian genocide" during his presidential
campaign, but refrained from using the term during a recent visit to
Turkey, saying only that his views were on the record.