Political analyst: Armenian president’s visit to turkey to take place

Yerevan, August 24. /ARKA/. The Armenian President’s visit to Turkey will take place, the director of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan said.

“The Armenian-Turkish process is not stalled. I do not think that we can expect dramatic breakthroughs, although some progress is possible. This is why Serj Sargsyan’s visit to Turkey should take place” the political scientist went on during the press conference on Monday.

At the invitation of Turkish President Gul, President of Armenia, Serj Sargsyan, may visit Turkey in October 2009.

The reason for the invitation is the return football game, which will be held in Bursa, between Armenia and Turkey in the World Cup 2010 qualifying round.

President Gul has already visited Armenia on September 6, 2008, when he attended a football match between Armenia and Turkey in Yerevan with his Armenian counterpart.

As the Armenian political analyst thinks, as of the moment there are different possibilities of the development of the Armenian-Turkish relations and the door for the continuation of the process more open.

The process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations will develop further.

The situation over the past year and a half in the Armenian-Turkish process is a major achievement itself, since the parties had moved on to discuss specific issues.

According to the analyst, if 4-5 years ago all the discussions about Turkey amounted to the stories and issues not related to politics and the economy in Armenia, the current debate is concerning the opening of the borders, albeit with a historical emphasis.

“The same thing is happening in Turkey. In both countries there are both supporters and opponents of this step. What is happening now is a major shift - discussions are taking place, the Turkish President visited Armenia and there is an opportunity for the next meeting,” Iskandaryan said.

Armenia and Turkey do not have diplomatic relations and the Armenian-Turkish border has been closed since 1993 on the initiative of the official Ankara.

The complex relationship between the two countries is caused by several factors related to, with Ankara’s support of Azerbaijan in the Karabakh issue, as well as the acute reaction to Turkey's process of the international recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. A.B. –0-