TURKEY SAYS IT COULD OPEN ARMENIAN BORDER
Associated Press Worldstream
May 9, 2009 Saturday 10:21 AM GMT
Turkey’s prime minister says Turkey could open its border with
Armenia if Armenia withdraws its forces from the Azeri enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan says in a speech early Saturday that Turkey could
open its border if Armenia lifts its "occupation" of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan
during its conflict with Armenia. Turkey backs Azerbaijan’s claims
to Nagorno-Karabakh, which has a large number of ethnic Armenian
residents.
Nagorno-Karabakh has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces
since a six-year conflict that killed about 30,000 people and displaced
1 million before a truce was reached in 1994.