RAND Corporation: progress in Armenia-Turkey relations possible after Karabakh settlement

PanARMENIAN.Net - RAND Corporation issued a report titled "Turkey as a U.S. Security Partner" prepared for the United States Air Force.



"Since the end of the Cold War, Turkey has strengthened its position in the Caucasus - a region where it has long-standing interests. Relations with Azerbaijan and Georgia have improved significantly. However, Turkey's relations with Armenia remain strained as a legacy of the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces in 1915-1916," writes Stephen Larrabee, the author of the report.



"Armenia's continuing occupation of Nagorno Karabakh" poses another obstacle to better Turkish-Armenian relations, according to him.



"In 1993, in response, Turkey closed its border with Armenia and suspended efforts to establish diplomatic relations with Yerevan. Turkey has made settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict a precondition for the normalization of relations with Armenia," the report says.



"Recently, under U.S. pressure, Ankara and Yerevan have quietly begun to explore ways to improve relations. However, while some small progress has been made in improving relations, any major breakthrough, such as reopening the Turkish-Armenian border, is only likely after a settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh dispute."