If held, secret talks between Yerevan and Ankara fruitlessJanuary 21, 2009 - 14:13 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Although the football diplomacy line seems to develop, the Armenian-Turkish relations have not changed much recently: the border is still closed, diplomatic relations are not established, an Armenian professor said. "With arrival of Turkish President Gul last September, Yerevan and Ankara established communication. However, reconciliation depends on whether Ankara will agree to establishment of diplomatic relations without preconditions or not," Ruben Safrastyan, director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the RA Academy of Sciences, told a news conference in Yerevan today. Ankara pretends to be interested in normalization of relations with Yerevan, according to him. "If held, secret talks between Armenian and Turkish diplomats have failed to produce effect so far," he said. Commenting on the apology campaign launched by Turkish intellectuals, prof. Safrastyan said it was a brave initiative. "Although not all of the initiators use the term genocide to describe the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, they seem to encourage the Turkish public for an open discussion of the issue," he said. Over 27 thousand Turkish intellectuals, authors, journalists, scientists and musicians have already signed the petition which reads, "My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Calamity that befell the Ottoman Armenians in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers. I apologize to them." Top stories Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan took to social media to thank his Lithuanian counterpart for the contribution. President of the Armenian parliament Alen Simonyan met with the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova. Achieving stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a priority of the OSCE, said Ian Borg. The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Partner news | Exclusive access to all EURO 2024 games for Ucom subscribers This year once again Ucom stands as the primary partner of UEFA EURO 2024 in Armenia. Azerbaijan complains to Germany about Armenia's constitution Bayramov has complained about the Armenian constitution to his German counterpart Annalena Berbock. idcoin: New tool in IDBank’s loyalty system IDBank has announced the launch of idcoin, a new tool in the customer loyalty system. Glendale mayor to visit Yerevan Asatryan last visited Armenia in December 2022-January 2023 as she helped establish a partnership between Armenia’s Opera House and Los Angeles Opera. |