ARMENIAN FM URGES OPENING OF BORDER AT RARE TALKS WITH TURKISH COLLEAGUE
Agence France Presse — English
June 25, 2007 Monday 1:04 PM GMT
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian urged Turkey on Monday to
open the border between the two arch-foe neighbours, saying that such
a move would help mend fences.
Oskanian made the appeal after he held a rare meeting with his
Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul on the sidelines of a summit of the
organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in Istanbul.
"If you are serious about dialogue, please open the border first,"
Oskanian told a press conference, saying that was the key message he
conveyed to Gul.
Turkey dealt a heavy economic blow to impoverished Armenia in 1993 as
it shut the border between the two countries in a show of solidarity
with its close ally Azerbaijan, which was at war with Armenia over
the territory of Nagorny-Karabakh.
Turkey also refuses to establish diplomatic relations with Armenia
because of Yerevan’s campaign for the international recognition of
mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during World War
I as genocide.
In response to Oskanian’s demand, Gul responded at their meeting
that Armenia should work to resolve the Nagorny-Karabakh dispute with
Azerbaijan, a Turkish diplomat said.
"We also expect some gestures from you," the diplomat quoted Gul
as telling Oskanian in reference to a Turkish proposal to set up
a joint committee of Turkish and Armenian academics to study the
genocide allegations.
Oskanian said that if Turkey opened the border, Yerevan "is willing
to create any commission that is needed to address whatever issue
standing in the way of normalising bilateral ties."
He added, however, that his meeting with Gul gave him no hope that
Ankara might soften its stance.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen died in deportations
and systematic killings under the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of
modern-day Turkey, and want the killings to be recognised as genocide.
Ankara categorically rejects the label and argues that 300,000
Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife during
World War I when the Armenians took up arms for independence in
eastern Anatolia and sided with Russian troops invading the crumbling
Ottoman Empire.
The European Union, which Turkey is seeking to join, has also called
on Ankara to normalise with Yerevan.
Turkish and Armenian officials have met several other times on the
sidelines of international gatherings.