ARMENIAN PRESIDENT BUILDS BACKING FOR TURKEY TIES

Agence France Presse
Sept 17 2009

YEREVAN — Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian held five hours of
talks with the country’s political leaders on Thursday as he sought
to build support for the delicate aim of establishing diplomatic ties
with Turkey.

Speaking at the opening of the closed-door talks, Sarkisian said the
meeting with members of 52 political parties was aimed at hearing
all perspectives on the controversial issue.

"I have heard various opinions in detail, I have heard positive,
encouraging statements, and I have heard criticisms and concerns as
well," Sarkisian said.

"Obviously I also see risks and have concerns. But in order to assess
the risks properly… we must bring all of our observations together,"
he said.

"I see the end of this process only as providing the minimum
environment to begin a dialogue with Turkey," he said.

Armenia and Turkey announced last month they had agreed a framework
to establish diplomatic ties and reopen their border after decades of
hostility, in what was internationally hailed as a major breakthrough.

The two countries said they would hold internal political consultations
for six weeks before submitting to their parliaments two protocols
on establishing diplomatic ties and developing bilateral relations.

The deal has come under fire from opposition groups in both countries,
which accuse their governments of making concessions.

Turkey has long refused to establish diplomatic links with Armenia
over Yerevan’s efforts to have World War I-era massacres of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks recognised as genocide — a label Ankara strongly
rejects.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically
killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor
of modern Turkey, was falling apart.

Turkey also closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
ally Azerbaijan over Yerevan’s backing of ethnic Armenian separatists
in the breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region.