TURKISH FM INVITES ARMENIA FOR RENEWED DIALOGUE
Hurriyet
April 21 2008
Turkey
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told a news conference on Monday
he has sent a letter to Yerevan calling for dialogue with Armenia
and saying Turkey wanted to normalize ties between the two countries.
Babacan said on Monday Turkey desires to normalize its relations
with Armenia and is keeping channels of dialogue open with the new
Armenian government.
"Turkey wants to see peace, stability, security and prosperity in
its region, but as you know our relations with Armenia do not fit
into that formula. We have problems, and the only way to solve these
problems is through dialogue. Our doors are open to dialogue in the new
period ahead," Babacan said, when he was asked about Turkey-Armenia
relations during a news conference with visiting Austrian Foreign
Minister Ursula Plassnik.
Turkey closed its border with ex-Soviet, Armenia in 1993 during a
war between Armenia and Azerbaijan – a Muslim ally of Ankara. The
move hurt the economy of tiny, landlocked country, sandwiched between
Turkey and Azerbaijan in the region.
As the result of Armenia’s February general election, Serge Sarkisian,
a former prime minister, was sworn in earlier this month as the
country’s third president since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million
of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings during the
last years of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey categorically rejects the
claims, saying that 300,000 Armenians along with at least as many
Turks died in civil strife that emerged when the Armenians took up
arms for independence in eastern Anatolia.