TURKEY FEARS EASTERN PARTNERSHIP MIGHT UNDERMINE BSEC ACTIVITIES

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
12.06.2009 13:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Eastern Partnership program is a very new
initiative and the Turkish government has not declared yet an official
position, a Turkish expert said.

"The initiative is planned to strengthen the Union’s policy towards
the Eastern neighbors. As far as I know the Eastern Partnership
keeps open the possibility of the participation of third parties
(ex. Russia or Turkey) in terms of concrete projects or meetings,"
Aybars Gurgulu, foreign policy project assistant at Turkish Economic
and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), told PanARMENIAN.Net.

"The only hesitation would be that this new initiative would undermine
the activities of Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation,
but apparently the formats are totally different so Turkey would be
supportive of this initiative. In addition if this new plan will help
to the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, Turkey would
be more than happy," he said.