ARMENIA VOWS TO BOOST TIES WITH TURKEY
The News International
Sept 3 2009
Pakistan
YEREVAN: Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian on Wednesday
vowed that his country would push forward with efforts to establish
ties with neighbouring Turkey after decades of hostility.
"It’s a complicated process which requires intensive work. It’s
important that both sides have the will," he told journalists. "Armenia
has such a desire and I think Turkey does as well."
Armenia and Turkey announced on Monday that they had agreed on a plan
to establish diplomatic ties and re-open their joint border.
The two countries currently have no diplomatic relations, a closed
frontier and a long history of hostility rooted in massacres of
Armenians ‘under the Ottoman Turks’ during World War I.
Nalbandian said both countries were under heavy international pressure
to resolve the longstanding dispute. "The whole world wants this
question to be resolved. If one of the sides will resist, it will be
in confrontation with the whole world," he said.
Asked if it is possible that the two countries’ border will re-open
by the end of the year, Nalbandian replied: "If everything goes well,
why not?"
Ankara and Yerevan said on Monday they would hold six weeks of domestic
consultations before signing two protocols on establishing diplomatic
ties and developing bilateral relations. The protocols must then be
ratified by the two countries’ parliaments.