STALEMATED ARMENIAN-TURKISH RECONCILIATION PROCESS MAY RESUME ONLY AFTER NEXT PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN TURKEY: EXPERT

/ARKA/
April 21, 2010
YEREVAN

An Armenian political analyst said today the stalemated
Armenian-Turkish reconciliation process may resume only after next
parliamentary elections in Turkey.

Alexander Iskandarian, head of the Caucasian Media Institute (CMI)
in Yerevan, said after April 24 when Armenians worldwide will be
marking the 95-th anniversary of the 1915 genocide, it will be clear
whether Ankara would come under fresh international pressure to mend
its relations with Armenia and if this happens, then the first results
would appear no sooner than after 2011 parliamentary elections in
Turkey, he said during a video conference between Yerevan and Armenia
at Novosti Armenia international press center.

According to him the reconciliation process may get a boost earlier,
but only after April 24 and further developments will be contingent
largely on a set of external factors, particularly, on the stance of
Washington, Moscow and Brussels on Armenia and Turkey.

He recalled that the independent Armenia since its inception was
ready for a compromised settlement of its problems with Turkey as all
three presidents declared that Yerevan was prepared for unconditional
normalization of relations with Turkey. He also said the situation
in Turkey regarding discussions on the Armenian genocide has changed
dramatically in the last 5-6 years and the taboo on this issue was
removed.

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.