Turkey's MFA ready to establish relations with Armenia, Turkish professor says

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's policy toward the South Caucasus states bases on two principles: territorial integrity and neighborly relations with all states of the region, a Turkish expert said.



"The Turkish government is willing to enjoy neighborly relations not only with Georgia and Azerbaijan but also with Armenia," head of the department of international relations at University of Economic and Technology, prof. Mustafa Aydin said in his remarks during Caucasus 2007 international conference in Yerevan.



The February 19 presidential election in Armenia inspires hope for gradual normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations, according to him.



"The Turkish Foreign Ministry eyes the Armenian diplomacy as 'very soviet', old-fashioned and clumsy. Our diplomacy, on the contrary, is west-oriented and supposes joint efforts for normalization of relations. Reconstruction of Holy Church in Akhtamar is a serious step on the part of the Turkish government. It's Armenia's turn now," prof. Aydin said.



"One of such steps could be softening of position on Nagorno Karabakh. Ankara understands that much should be done for resolution of the conflict but initially Armenia could withdraw troops from 7 Azerbaijani regions. In this case, Turkey could open the border, which was closed in 1993. Actually, Turkey's MFA is ready to establish relations with Armenia but pressure is too strong. Anyway, I think that normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations is not far away," he said.