STRATFOR: NO PROGRESS IN NEGOTIATION PROCESS BETWEEN ARMENIA AND TURKEY IS POSSIBLE WITHOUT SURRENDER OF TERRITORIES TO AZERBAIJAN BY ARMENIA
ArmInfo
2009-09-09 12:40:00
ArmInfo. The prospects for these negotiations are not very good,
the expert on Eurasia of the American Centre of Strategic Forecasts
STRATFOR Marko Papic told ArmInfo.
According to him, the agreement signed two weeks ago was not for
actual peace negotiations but rather to set a timeline. Turkey has
already demanded that before any concrete negotiations start they
will demand that Armenia removes its military from any held territory.
Papic is pessimistic as regards the prospects of normalization of
relations between Armenia and Turkey in the near future on the basis
of the agreed Protocols ‘On Establishment of Diplomatic Relations’
and ‘On development of Bilateral Relations’.
‘In simple terms, there is no evidence yet that the two sides are
close to normalization, despite the pretty enthusiastic reception to
the agreed Protocols’, the expert emphasized. To note, by saying the
‘held territories’, the expert means the territories of the ‘security
belt’ around Nagorno Karabakh under the NKR control.