WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
September 4, 2009 Friday

TURKEY AND ARMENIA TO ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

The joint communique published simultaneously in Bern, Yerevan, and
Ankara proclaims the beginning of political consultations between
Armenia and Turkey over establishment of diplomatic relations. The
consultations are expected to take six weeks.

President of Armenia Serj Sargsjan expressed displeasure over what he
called neglect to honor the previously made agreements on the part of
Turkey. "Armenia did its best to normalize relations with Turkey the
way it is done in the civilized world of the 21st century," he said.

"Initialling the documents, Yerevan’s foreign policy displayed its
shortsightedness and ineptness in avoiding the cunning traps set by
Ankara," said Stepan Safarjan, political scientist and deputy of the
oppositionist Legacy faction of the Armenian parliament. Safarjan
announced that the clauses on terrorism, violence, and radicalism
referred to Nagorno-Karabakh and all but tied Armenia’s hands.

"The documents on normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations
stipulate a panel of historians that will study the genocide, and that
is what disturbs me," ex-Foreign Minister Alexander Arzumanjan
said. "It’s unacceptable. Not a single Armenian alive will question
the fact of genocide. It follows that the idea of such a panel should
have been killed."

Source: Novye Izvestia, September 2, 2009, p. 2

Translated by Aleksei Ignatkin