Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian downplays fears of Turkish economic expansion

YEREVAN, October 5, /ARKA/. Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian downplayed fears of Turkish economic expansion once the border with Turkey opens. Speaking to representatives of Armenian organizations of the United States’ East Coast and Canada in New York during the second leg of his ‘pan-Armenian’ tour President Sarkisian said these fears were groundless.

President Sarkisian was quoted by his press office as saying that Armenia possesses sufficient legal tools and mechanisms to respond to problems and challenges that may arise in its economic relations with Turkey.

President Sarkisian responded also to arguments that the aftereffects of the Turkish-Armenian normalization were not calculated well by saying that his administration had done a great deal of work to be prepared to thwart and swiftly react to any negative development.

According to Serzh Sarkisian, in reality it is actually impossible to calculate and predict all challenges and risks for all scenarios of developments in Armenian-Turkish relations. He said Armenians had similar apprehensions in Nagorno-Karabakh, in Armenia earlier during other key events.

“When we voted for Armenia’s independence (from the former Soviet Union), many of our country fellows feared for the future of their country. We did not and could not foresee at that time how the future developments may unfold. Similarly, when we fought for Nagorno-Karabakh’s freedom and its right to self-determination in a war imposed on it, we did not make all calculations and there were different apprehensions as well. But we believed in our goal and succeeded,’ he said.

A joint statement issued late on August 31 by Turkey and Armenia, together with mediators from Switzerland, said Ankara and Yerevan will conduct six weeks of diplomatic consultations before signing two protocols that establish formal diplomatic ties and help develop bilateral relations. The two neighbouring countries have no diplomatic ties, the border is closed and there is a history of animosity that stems from the mass killing of Armenians in 1915 in the ottoman Empire.

The thaw in the strained relations began in 2008 September after Turkish president Abdullah Gul arrived in Armenia, at his counterpart Serzh Sarkisian's invitation to watch together the 2010 World Cup qualifying football game between the two countries’ national teams. During that visit the two presidents discussed prospects for engaging in dialogue and normalization of relations. M.M. -0-