EXPERT: ARMENIAN AND TURKISH AUTHORITIES SEE TRANSPARENCY REQUIRED IN NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS

ARKA
Sep 1, 2009

YEREVAN, September 1. /ARKA/. Armenian and Turkish authorities
understand that the normalization of the relations should be
transparent, head of analytical center for globalization and regional
cooperation Stepan Grigoryan said.

Even the best document cannot be implemented if the society does not
agree to it, Grigoryan said in Novosti international press center
Tuesday.

Monday evening the foreign ministries of Armenia and Turkey and
the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs made a statement that an
agreement was reached to start internal political consultations about
two protocols – the protocol about establishing diplomatic relations
between the two countries and the protocol about developing bilateral
relations. The consultations are expected to be completed within six
weeks; the protocols will be submitted for parliament approval then.

The countries take these six weeks to neutralize serious concerns in
the societies of the two countries, Grigoryan said.

No diplomatic relations exist between Armenia and Turkey, and the
Armenian-Turkish border has been closed since 1993 initiated by
official Ankara.

The reason for complicated relations between the countries is
particularly Turkey’s pro-Azerbaijani stance on the Karabakh conflict
and acute response to the process of international acknowledgement
of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empir e in 1915.

The first warming of the relations occurred on September 6 2008
when Turkish President Abdullah Gul arrived in Yerevan for the first
time on the invitation of the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan for
watching together the football match between the nationals of Armenia
and Turkey in 2010 championship qualifying games. After the match the
Turkish leader invited his Armenian counterpart to watch the return
match between the two nationals on October 14 2009.