TURKEY TO PUSH AHEAD WITH ARMENIA TIES-ERDOGAN
Daniel Bases

Forbes
Sept 23 2009

PRINCETON, Sept. 23 (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
said on Wednesday he expects to present Parliament with documents to
establish diplomatic ties with Armenia by early October, just before
a critical meeting between the nations’ two leaders.

Erdogan, in a broad-ranging foreign policy speech before faculty and
students at Princeton University said the negotiations "have really
taken us to an important position."

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties and share a history of
animosity stemming from the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks during World War One.

Turkey denies the 1915 killings amounted to genocide, but has agreed
to set up a commission of international experts on the issue under
the protocol it signed with Armenia.

"If we don’t see prejudice or some domestic political considerations
at play, I believe the preparation for an agreement, which has been
initialed between Turkey and Armenia could be taken to Parliament to
be ratified. We hope to take those steps by the 10th or 11th of next
month," Erdogan said through a translator.

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On This StoryAnkara has said it hopes to open its border with Armenia
by the end of the year under a protocol to establish diplomatic ties.

Anticipation over an Ankara-Yerevan thaw has been growing ahead
of a planned visit by Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan to Turkey
on Oct. 14 when he is due to attend the return leg of a World Cup
qualifying soccer match between the two countries.

Sarksyan has said he would not travel to the game, the first leg of
which Turkish President Abdullah Gul watched last year in Yerevan,
unless the border has reopened or there are clear signs it is about
to open.

Erdogan said he thought there should be no hesitation on the part of
Sarksyan to make the trip.

"If the Turkish President can easily go to Armenia to watch a game
then it should be just as easy and simple for the Armenian President"
to come to Turkey, Erdogan said.

"I think asking for certain conditions to be met to decide to come is
not the right way forward in international politics anymore," he said.

Turkey is a key player in the region, and bills itself as a bridge
between the Christian west and the Muslim Middle East. While it is
a secular society, Turkey’s 70 million people are predominantly Muslim.

Erdogan reiterated its foreign policy is based upon having zero
problems with its neighbors. Progress on these neighborhood issues
would also enhance its ongoing process of joining the European Union.