Author: Hakobian Adrine

The New York Times
Published: March 8, 2009

ISTANBUL ‘ For Turkey, the number should have been a bombshell.
Nearly a Million Genocide Victims, Covered in a Cloak of Amnesia

Ottoman Armenians are marched to a prison by armed Turkish soldiers in
April 1915. About 972,000 Armenians disappeared from population
records in 1915 and 1916.

Times Topics: Armenian GenocideAccording to a long-hidden document
that belonged to the interior minister of the Ottoman Empire, 972,000
Ottoman Armenians disappeared from official population records from
1915 through 1916.

In Turkey, any discussion of what happened to the Ottoman Armenians
can bring a storm of public outrage. But since its publication in a
book in January, the number ‘ and its Ottoman source ‘ has gone
virtually unmentioned. Newspapers hardly wrote about it. Television
shows have not discussed it.

`Nothing,’ said Murat Bardakci, the Turkish author and columnist who
compiled the book.

The silence can mean only one thing, he said: `My numbers are too high
for ordinary people. Maybe people aren’t ready to talk about it yet.’

For generations, most Turks knew nothing of the details of the
Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1918, when more than a million Armenians
were killed as the Ottoman Turk government purged the
population. Turkey locked the ugliest parts of its past out of sight,
Soviet-style, keeping any mention of the events out of schoolbooks and
official narratives in an aggressive campaign of forgetting.

But in the past 10 years, as civil society has flourished here, some
parts of Turkish society are now openly questioning the state’s
version of events. In December, a group of intellectuals circulated a
petition that apologized for the denial of the massacres. Some 29,000
people have signed it.

With his book, `The Remaining Documents of Talat Pasha,’ Mr. Bardakci
(pronounced bard-AK-chuh) has become, rather unwillingly, part of this
ferment. The book is a collection of documents and records that once
belonged to Mehmed Talat, known as Talat Pasha, the primary architect
of the Armenian deportations.

The documents, given to Mr. Bardakci by Mr. Talat’s widow, Hayriye,
before she died in 1983, include lists of population figures. Before
1915, 1,256,000 Armenians lived in the Ottoman Empire, according to
the documents. The number plunged to 284,157 two years later,
Mr. Bardakci said.

To the untrained ear, it is simply a sad statistic. But anyone
familiar with the issue knows the numbers are in fierce
dispute. Turkey has never acknowledged a specific number of deportees
or deaths. On Sunday, Turkey’s foreign minister warned that President
Obama might set back relations if he recognized the massacre of
Armenians as genocide before his visit to Turkey next month.

The collapse of the Ottoman Empire was bloody, the Turkish argument
goes, and those who died were victims of that chaos.

Mr. Bardakci subscribes to that view. The figures, he said, do not
indicate the number of dead, only a result of the decline in the
Armenian population after deportation. He strongly disagrees that the
massacres amounted to a genocide, and he says Turkey was obliged to
take action against Armenians because they were openly supporting
Russia in its war against the Ottoman Empire.

`It was not a Nazi policy or a Holocaust,’ he said. `These were very
dark times. It was a very difficult decision. But deportation was the
outcome of some very bloody events. It was necessary for the
government to deport the Armenian population.’

This argument is rejected by most scholars, who believe that the small
number of Armenian rebels were not a serious threat to the Ottoman
Empire, and that the policy was more the product of the perception
that the Armenians, non-Muslims and therefore considered
untrustworthy, were a problem population.

Hilmar Kaiser, a historian and expert on the Armenian genocide, said
the records published in the book were conclusive proof from the
Ottoman authority itself that it had pursued a calculated policy to
eliminate the Armenians. `You have suddenly on one page confirmation
of the numbers,’ he said. `It was like someone hit you over the head
with a club.’

Mr. Kaiser said the before and after figures amounted to `a death
record.’

`There is no other way of viewing this document,’ he said. `You can’t
just hide a million people.’

Other scholars said that the number was a useful addition to the
historical record, but that it did not introduce a new version of
events.

`This corroborates what we already knew,’ said Donald Bloxham, the
author of `The Great Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism and
the Destruction of the Ottoman Armenians.’

Mr. Bardakci is a history buff who learned to read and write Ottoman
script from his grandmother, allowing him to navigate Turkey’s written
past, something that most Turks are unable to do. He plays the tanbur,
a traditional string instrument. His grandfather was a member of the
same political party of Mr. Talat, and his family knew many of the
important political figures in Turkey’s founding.

Though he clearly wanted the numbers to be known, he stubbornly
refuses to interpret them. He offers no analysis in the book, and
aside from an interview with Mr. Talat’s widow, there is virtually no
text beside the original documents.

`I didn’t want to interpret,’ he said. `I want the reader to decide.’

The best way to do that, he argues, is by using cold, hard facts,
which can cut through the layers of emotional rhetoric that have
clouded the issue for years.

`I believe we need documents in Turkey,’ he said. `This is the most
important.’

But some of the keenest observers of Turkish society said the silence
was a sign of just how taboo the topic still was. `The importance of
the book is obvious from the fact that no paper except Milliyet has
written a single line about it,’ wrote Murat Belge, a Turkish
academic, in a January column in the liberal daily newspaper Taraf.

Still, it is a measure of Turkey’s democratic maturity that the book
was published here at all. Mr. Bardakci said he had held the documents
for so long ‘ 27 years ‘ because he was waiting for Turkey to reach
the point when their publication would not cause a frenzy.

Even the state now feels the need to defend itself. Last summer, a
propaganda film about the Armenians made by Turkey’s military was
distributed to primary schools. After a public outcry, it was stopped.

`I could never have published this book 10 years ago,’ Mr. Bardakci
said. `I would have been called a traitor.’

He added, `The mentality has changed.’

ARMENIA TO BENEFIT FROM SOUTH CAUCASUS CONFEDERATION FORMATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.03.2009 17:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Uniting of South Caucasian states into a single
confederation within the aegis of EU could strengthen their economy
and allow them to become associate EU members in several years,"
the Forum Chairman at Armenian Unions of Europe Ashot Grigoryan stated.

"The idea to create such a confederation was suggested at 2008 European
Economic Forum. The main goal was to unite Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Georgia, NKR, Abkhazia and South Ossetia into a single confederation,"
noted Ashot Grigoryan, adding that he already introduced the initiative
to EU leadership, who gave it a positive assessment. "The initiative
will be discussed at 2009 European Economic Forum due in September,
and I hope it will strengthen Armenia-EU cooperation. The Confederation
creation suggests the facilitation of visa system, investment programs
and opening of borders."

"I believe Georgia and Azerbaijan will take a positive
approach. Besides, if Russia agrees to the project, South Caucasian
Confederation could become a bridge between Russia and Brussels."

ARMENIAN FAIRS TO BE LICENSED FROM APR 1

ARKA
March 5, 2009

YEREVAN, March 5. /ARKA/. At its sitting today, the RA Government
approved the order of licensing trade organization activities, which
is to take effect from April 1, 2009.

RA Deputy Minister of Economy Mushegh Tumasyan reported that the
order is in conformity with the RA Law on Trade and Services.

The Government also approved the license form and the list of documents
to be submitted to the relevant bodies, Tumasyan said.

RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said that the Government’s decision
implies that the trade outlets will switch from the fixed tax over
to the profit tax.

"It is especially important that the Armenian public be aware of that –
especially the owners of fairs, whose activities arouse the traders’
discontent," T. Sargsyan said.

He said that some fair owners practice unjustified rise in the prices
for trade outlets. The Premier reported that special attention will
be paid to document circulation, which will allow the tax authorities
to have a clear idea of each fair’s profits.

T. Sargsyan believes that the measure has no alternative and will
make all the trade outlets taxable.

"By our steps we will show our opponents that we are making big
businesses taxable. It is extremely important now that the rental price
for trade outlets be reasonable for traders to be able to rest weekends
witho ut paying for their trade outlets," T. Sargsyan said. -0–

FROM LEBANON TO THE US, PROFESSOR KHACHIG TOLOLYAN REFLECTS ON 34 YEARS OF CHANGE
By Elana Metsch-Ampel

Wesleyan Argus
anon-to-the-us-professor-khachig-tololyan-refl-ect s-on-34-years-of-change/
March 4 2009

Professor Khachig Tololyan immigrated to the US with his entire family
from Beirut, Lebanon when he was 16 years old. A member of the Armenian
Diaspora, Tololyan is connected with communities throughout the world,
one of them being the community at Wesleyan, where Tololyan has worked
for 34 years since finishing graduate school in 1974. Tololyan’s tenure
at the University has given him a panoramic view of the University
and of the way it has changed over time.

The child of Armenian refugees from Turkey, Tololyan comes from a
history of persecution. His parents fled Turkey to northern Syria,
where Tololyan was born. He continued to move with his family,
first to Cairo, Egypt and then to Lebanon, Beirut, and finally to
Watertown, Massachusetts. Despite having lived and worked in the US
for the entirety of his adult life, Tololyan keeps in close contact
with the other scattered Armenian communities throughout the world. He
visits the Armenian community in Paris annually, for example, and has
connections with the intellectual and professorial class in Armenia,
along with some political ties.

Despite Tololyan’s strong connection to the Armenian Diaspora, he
has no desire to return to the Middle East.

"The Middle East I knew no longer exists," he explained. "There have
been so many problems, changes, wars, revolutions–that world changed
very fast. Frankly, I have no interest in going back."

Tololyan explains that places of his childhood like Beirut have
changed unrecognizably, and he does not feel optimistic about the
fate of the Middle East in the days to come.

"The Middle East is first of all not a place that can decide its own
fate," Tololyan said. "What happens in the Middle East is decided
as much in places like the United States as it is in the Middle East
itself. There are too many cooks, and too many cooks who are trying
to cook different dishes."

Tololyan’s experience throughout the Middle East and as a member of
the Armenian Diaspora has attracted him to the study of diasporas
in general, which his personal research and preoccupations
center around. Although he received his undergraduate degree in
molecular biology from Harvard, Tololyan’s focus is comparative
literature. Initially hired at Wesleyan through the English Department,
Tololyan three years ago transferred to the College of Letters,
where he teaches courses that are more specifically focused on his
area of training. He has taught subjects ranging from Homer and the
Old Testament to Virgil and the New Testament.

Over the years, he has also held visiting professorships at the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and at the University of Johns
Hopkins. He has also taken sabbaticals at Brown University.

"My experience as a member of the Armenian Diaspora has prepared me
not just intellectually, but in a gut way to know what it’s like to
live in one place but to care about two places at once," Tololyan said.

Despite commonly held perceptions, Tololyan believes that in many
crucial ways, the University has stayed the same. He feels that
aspects in which the University has changed are largely due to
national trends manifested across the elite schools of the country
and are not necessarily specific to Wesleyan alone.

"I think Wesleyan still selectively attracts kids from certain parts of
the country with certain shared convictions about life, that hasn’t
changed very much," Tololyan said. "It’s true that there’s a little
more anxiety than there used to be, but that’s probably the case
across most of America."

He also addressed the University’s past reputations, noting that drug
use, for example, was no different here than at any other University.

"People think of Wesleyan as the drug capital of America or something,"
Tololyan said.

"I’d always find it very strange that the drug lure was heavy
here–are there no other campuses across the United States where
there are drugs?"

Tololyan did, however, mention two specific changes in the student
body that he’s noticed over time. First, he remembers a world before
laptops and cell phones from when he began teaching. Second, he
remembers the political climate on campus, and how it has changed.

"Wesleyan above all has had left wing politics of a serious sort,
of a really serious sort, and that’s largely disappeared."

As for the University’s students, Tololyan explained that over the
years, he has noticed that the excitement freshmen feel as they enter
their first year often mirrors the excitement and privilege they feel
as they leave the University their senior year. He also addressed,
however, the positive and negative qualities of student work ethic.

"[Students], in good and bad ways, tend to be less neurotically intense
about competition than their peers elsewhere," Tololyan said. "The
bad part of that is that characteristically Wesleyan students who are
clearly smart and able have the tendency to flake out when the work
gets difficult. Many of my good students have more ambition than a
willingness to work really hard."

He explained that from his own experience, the balance between work and
"partying" is often difficult to negotiate, even for Wesleyan students.

"I have many students who are smart and ambitious but who start
partying too hard on Thursdays. On the other hand, they don’t have
the neurotic, Nazi-like intensity you find in some places. What the
perfect balance is, that’s very hard to say. It’s not like there are
whole colleges where that can be determined, it’s up to an individual."

Tololyan also has specific opinions about the nature of the
University today. He tries to take advantage of what he considers
to be an expansive and unique art scene on campus. He explains that
the opportunities offered by the University in theater, photography,
the visual arts, music and creative writing are extremely valuable,
and urges students to take advantage of them.

"There are places like Oberlin, for example, where music is king,
but the richness and span of the arts in those places is not the same
as it is at Wesleyan," Tololyan said.

"There is more richness here than there is in many otherwise similar
undergraduate campuses."

MEDIATOR SEES FAVORABLE CLIMATE FOR GARABAGH SETTLEMENT

AzerNews Weekly
March 4 2009
Azerbaijan

An unbiased environment has been created for settling the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict, an international
mediator has said.

The statement by Yury Merzlyakov, the Russian co-chairman of the
OSCE Minsk Group brokering a settlement to the long-standing dispute,
came following a meeting with the leader of the self-proclaimed Upper
Garabagh republic, Bako Saakian, on Sunday.

With regard to possible advances in the peace process in 2009,
Merzlyakov said it was always challenging to make tentative projections
and that he could not conclude what would exactly happen this year. He
added that "under subjective conditions, the political will of the
sides was necessary at times for the adoption of complicated but
important decisions."

The mediator said the co-chairs had informed the leaders of the
separatist regime that they saw new opportunities for moving the
peace process forward after the latest meetings of the Azerbaijani
and Armenian presidents.

"We shared our impressions and presumptions and are very pleased that
they were heard and understood," he said.

Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian last met in Zurich on
January 28. The two held a one-on-one meeting, followed by talks
attended by the foreign ministers and the Minsk Group co-chairs. The
over two-hour meeting was described as constructive, but no
comprehensive information was released.

The Russian Interfax news agency quoted a source from the office of
the self-proclaimed republic`s leader as saying that Saakian had
once again reiterated his position at the meeting regarding the
participation of Upper Garabagh in peace talks as a party.

The co-chairmen had begun a visit to the region in Baku
on Thursday. After holding talks with President Ilham Aliyev
and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, they headed to Yerevan,
where they discussed Garabagh settlement with Armenian President
Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian, as well as
Khankandi, an Azeri town turned by Armenians into the center of the
self-proclaimed republic. They returned to Baku on Tuesday.

The co-chairs told reporters in the Azerbaijani capital that
the meetings held with Armenian officials were very positive and
significant. Bernard Fassier, the French co-chairman, said the
intermediaries would table the outcomes of the talks held in Yerevan
in Baku.

"We sensed good will from both sides. During our visit to Armenia,
discussions were held on [arranging the next] meeting of the
Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents. We now plan to discuss the
results of the meetings we had in Yerevan with President Aliyev."

Fassier noted that whether or not the leaders` meeting would take
place and its timing would be determined after discussions with
President Aliyev later in the day.

US mediator Matthew Bryza said the talks were challenging but very
important meetings had been held. "There used to be a threat to peace
talks, but, luckily, the negotiating process continues."

Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war in the early 1990s, which claimed
some 30,000 lives and displaced about one million Azerbaijanis. Armenia
has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan`s internationally-recognized
territory since then. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but
Armenian armed forces have been persistently breaching the ceasefire
on the frontline.

RA PM: CRISIS FIRST OF ALL AFFECTS THE RICH

PanARMENIAN.Net
04.03.2009 22:36 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Government worked out a number of
medium -term programs to overcome the impact of financial crisis on
Armenian economy, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated in his
TV announcement.

For this purpose the government does its best to attract stabilization
credits. As of today, the IMF is ready to subsidize $540 million,
with $240 million to be granted immediately and $525 million will
be credited by the WB, Sargsyan noted, adding that the Russian Prime
Minister spoke about providing Armenia with $500 credit.

"Negotiations are also being conducted with Asian Bank and European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development," he stated. Also, the county’s
expenditure policy will play a key role in the overcoming of crisis
consequences by boosting economy and infrastructure and providing
the country’s vitality

"The government will do its utmost to shift the weigh on the shoulders
of major entrepreneurs. First of all, the crisis should affect the
rich," Sargsyan emphasized.

WORLD BANK TO PROVIDE ANOTHER 35 MILLION DOLLARS TO ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan

F eb 27, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The World Bank announced that
the first assistance by a simplified system will be provided to
Armenia and Congo to help these countries overcome the consequences
of the global financial crisis. According to Radio Liberty, the WB
International Development Association (IDA) has allocated a loan of
35 million USD to Armenia and a loan of 100 million USD to Congo.

The World Bank has recently approved a package of 4 loans of a total
of 85 million USD for Armenia, as well as the Global Ecological Fund’s
1.5 million dollar grant to be provided to the country.

The Armenian prime minister Tigran Sargsyan told Radio Liberty that the
Armenian government and the World Bank had reached an agreement on 525
million USD. "These programs will be aimed at forming infrastructures
and making reforms in the educational system, that is, our programs
with the World Bank are related to all sectors. I think that rapid and
efficient implementation of these programs will reduce the negative
impact of the global economic crisis on us," the prime minister said.

GLOBAL CRISIS TO BITE REAL SECTOR OF ARMENIA’S ECONOMY, NASDAQ OMX BOARD MEMBER SAYS

ARKA
March 3, 2009
YEREVAN

Armenia will feel the global financial crisis when it bites the
real sector of economy this year, NASDAQ OMX Board Member Johan
Fredholm said last week during the first forum on capital markets of
Armenia. According to him, the global recession has reached Armenia,
though it is not a financial crisis, with the local banking system
remaining stable. The crisis influences the real sector of the
country’s economy.

The organizer of the forum was Grant Thornton Amyot (Armenian member
of Grant Thornton International). The sponsors of the event are
the Central Bank of Armenia, RA Ministry of Economy, USAID/CAPS and
American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia (AmCham).

Due to the crisis, Armenia posted a slowdown in foreign remittances,
Fredholm said, adding the global recession hit the country’s
construction sector and resulted in a plunge of copper and molybdenum
prices.

However, the crisis has not yet sent Armenia into a tailspin, he said,
pointing out the country’s robust banking system and relatively weakly
developed financial sector.

The expert believes Armenia can attract more investments by boosting
the capital market. According to Fredholm, prices in the country
are more stable than on other West European developing counties,
which makes Armenia attractive for investments. Z. Sh. 9 30–

ARMENIA: OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS REMEMBER 2008 VIOLENCE IN YEREVAN
Gayane Abrahamyan

EurasiaNet
March 2 2009
NY

Shouting "Punish the March 1 criminals," supporters of former
president Levon Ter-Petrosian gathered March 1 to commemorate the
one-year anniversary of clashes between security forces and opposition
protestors that left at least 10 individuals dead.

Police, water canons, and barbed wire fences filled Yerevan on March
1 this year, but the rally passed without incident. Many residents
watched from their balconies, some joining in the protestors’ chant —
"We will win!" Banners called for the release of political prisoners
or an end to "tax terror," a reference to recently introduced income
taxes for small-business owners. Police reported a turnout of 10,000;
opposition members, questioning the police’s math skills, claimed
100,000.

One opposition claim, however, could be confirmed. Some inter-city bus
drivers who travel from Armenia’s north to Yerevan told EurasiaNet
that the police warned them against working on March 1. The area
contains some of Armenia’s largest towns and a relatively political
active population.

"Some were stopped and sent back, although most people had no plans
for going to the rally. But police would not allow them to come to
the capital," according to one driver on the Gyumri-Yerevan line,
who declined to give his name. Police had lined the road into Yerevan,
he added.

One police officer working on the highway northeast of Yerevan cited
security as the reason for the heavy security presence. "We stop the
cars that seem suspicious to us. We check the trucks — mostly for
the presence of weapons — to keep the rally from escalating into
mass disorder," said the officer, who declined to give his name.

Only one bus arrived on March 1 at the Yerevan bus station servicing
Armenia’s northern provinces, station workers said. The usual schedule
calls for buses to arrive each hour.

"I can’t say they have been prohibited from bringing people," commented
station worker Nelli Tadevosian in reference to bus drivers. "People
may have avoided coming themselves. The buses will not operate if
there are no passengers."

In a 50-minute address to rally participants, Ter-Petrosian took issue
with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for not
holding the government accountable for its alleged failure to meet
the requirements of the three PACE resolutions on Armenia passed in
2008. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. No progress
in addressing human rights issues has been made in the year since
the 2008 protest crackdown, he said.

"During a whole year, the authorities have done nothing to reveal the
real culprits — the murderers, the people who set fires, or the shop
looters. On the contrary, they have spared no effort to cover their
crimes up," Ter-Petrosian alleged. "If some international structures
claim the opposite and are willing to believe there is, nevertheless,
some progress in that matter, that’s their business."

The criticism follows on the heels of two reports that chastised
Armenia for the March 1 violence. In its annual human rights report,
the US Department of State noted that 2008 saw "significant setbacks
for democracy in Armenia, including the worst post-election violence
seen in the Caucasus in recent years." Meanwhile, a report issued
on February 25 by the New York-based Human Rights Watch termed the
clashes one of Armenia’s "most serious civil and political rights
crises since independence."

Armenia’s worsening economic problems could lead to stronger
protests, Ter-Petrosian warned, adding that Armenia could again
face the economic crisis of the 1990s — a period that, ironically,
coincides with Ter-Petrosian’s own 1991-1998 presidency.

"There are even harder times ahead fraught with the dangers of
social and even humanitarian disasters," he predicted. "So the
[Armenian National] Congress now needs to work with more caution and
with a greater feeling of responsibility not to worsen the already
bad situation."

The Ter-Petrosian movement plans to hold its next Yerevan rally on
May 1.

Meanwhile, relatives of victims of last year’s clashes are still
struggling to make sense of the tragedy, which grew out of a contested
election in February 2008. [For background see the Eurasia Insight
archive].

"My son was killed by the police, but no one has been punished yet
for that. What was my young son’s guilt? He only had the courage to
protest!" said Alla Hovhannisian, stroking a photo of her 23-year-old
son, Tigran Khachatrian, who Hovhannisian said was shot with a
Cheryomukha-7 gas-powered gun.

The weapons killed three people during the March 1, 2008,
demonstration. The prosecutor’s office has stated that it knows the
names of the police officers who had the weapons, but cannot identify
who fired the shots.

Members of Armenia’s three-party governing coalition marked the day
by attending a mass held at Etchmiadzin, the seat of the Armenian
Apostolic Church. In Yerevan’s main cathedral, President Serzh
Sargsyan lit 10 candles in memory of the 10 people killed during the
2008 violence.

"We were victims as well," Sargsyan told reporters in reference to
the government. Using mass protests to change Armenia’s government is
"not possible," he added.

Some rally onlookers only hope for an end to the ongoing tit-for-tat
accusations between government and opposition. "We are tired of it. We
witnessed the bloodshed, and the authorities and the opposition are
equally guilty for that," complained neighborhood resident Milena
Sargsyan. "Let them leave us alone!"

Editor’s Note: Gayane Abrahamyan is a reporter for the online weekly
ArmeniaNow in Yerevan.

APA, Azerbaijan
March 1 2009

U.S. Congressman: Border between Turkey and Armenia probable to open this year

[ 01 Mar 2009 16:17 ]

Baku-APA. The relations between Turkey and Armenia have hit a historic
turning point and the developments could result the opening of the
border of two neighboring countries, a U.S. congressman said Friday,
as Milliyet reported.

Robert Wexler, an American politician from the U.S. state of Florida,
co-chair of the Turkish friendship group in the U.S. House of
Representatives, stated that it seemed relations between Turkey and
Armenia were at a historically opportune point, adding the relations
could be normalized and border gates between the countries could be
opened.
Wexler, who visited Ankara and held meetings with Turkish officials
last week, talked about Turkish-Armenian relations at the Foreign
Affairs Committee.

In his words, there is probability for the normalization of relations
and the opening of borders between Turkey and Armenia in 2009.
During his visit from February 16-17, Wexler met with Turkey’s
President Gul and Premier ErdoÐ?an to discuss Turkish-Israeli
relations after the clash in Davos and the future of the
RutkishArmenian relations.

According to Milliyet, the opening of border gates came to the agenda
in diplomatic circles after Turkish President paid a landmark visit to
Yerevan in September 2008 to watch a World Cup qualifying football
match between the two countries.
`For this, Turkey is awaiting Armenia’s `nod of affirmation’ for
Turkey’s proposal to set up a joint commission of historians to probe
the problem’.

For about a month, there have been media reports about Turkey’s
gearing up for making light of the stipulation of Nagorno Karabakh in
negotiations with Armenia and opening the border gates. Meanwhile,
Turkish officials still don’t comment on the rumors.