Turkish expert: no serious competition for Russia by Turkish businessmen in Armenia

BURSA (TURKEY), October 15. / ARKA /. Turkish expert, senior analyst at the European Stability Initiative Nigar Goksel doubted that the Turkish businessmen can seriously compete with Russia's businesses in Armenia.

"We do not expect Armenia to have the same number Russian and Turkish businessmen and they will have the same power," Goksel said in an interview.

According to her, in the case of the establishment of bilateral relations and opening of the borders no large-scale Turkish investments will be present in Armenia.

"Investments are possible at the level of small industries, but they will not so much pressure on Armenia," Goksel said.

She believes that to a large extent, from the opening of the borders will benefit the eastern regions of Turkey, bordering Armenia.

"According to many professionals, tourism and retail trade will also benefit, but there will not be any opportunities for larger businesses,” Goksel said.

At the same time, the expert said that the best scenario for both Armenian and Turkish businessmen is not only the opening the Armenian-Turkish border, but also the parallel opening of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

On October 10, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey, Edward Nalbandyan and Ahmet Davutoglu, signed the "protocol on establishing diplomatic relations and a protocol on development of bilateral relations" at the University of Zurich.

The protocols are to enter into force after approval by the parliaments of two states.

Turkey and Armenia have had no diplomatic ties since Armenia became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support for its ally, Azerbaijan, which had a dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian enclave of Azerbaijan.

There are several sensitive issues complicating the establishment of normal relations between the two countries, particularly, Ankara’s blatant support of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution process and Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge the mass killings of Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

The thaw in the strained relations began in 2008 September after Turkish president Abdullah Gul arrived in Armenia, at his counterpart’s invitation, to watch together with Serzh Sargsyan 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. –0-