PUBLIC COUNCIL’S COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN SAYS ARMENIA COULD SELL $250 MILLION ELECTRICITY TO TURKEY

ARKA
Dec 24, 2009

YEREVAN, December 24, /ARKA/. Vazgen Safarian, chairman of a
presidential Public Council’s committee in charge of financial and
economic issues, said today Armenia could sell $250 million worth
electricity to neighboring Turkey if both countries normalized their
relations.

Speaking at a news conference he said Armenian exports to Turkey may
skyrocket to $300 million a year and apart from electricity Armenia
could also sell confectionary and industrial goods to Turkey.

He also said Armenian textile goods could compete with Turkish at
global markets if the government supports the sector.

Turkey and Armenia have had no diplomatic ties since Armenia became
independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. Turkey closed its border
with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support for its ally, Azerbaijan,
which had a dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic
Armenian enclave of Azerbaijan.

There are several sensitive issues complicating the establishment of
normal relations between the two countries, particularly, Ankara’s
blatant support of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
resolution process and Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge the mass
killings of Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire as
a genocide.

On October 10 Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, and Edward
Nalbandian, his Armenian counterpart signed two protocols in Zurich,
Switzerland on establishment of diplomatic relations and development
of bilateral ties. The protocols will still need ratification by
their respective parliaments.