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TURKEY READY TO "TEMPORARILY OPEN" ARMENIA BORDER FOR NATO EXERCISE
www.worldbulletin.net
http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=61341
July 14 2010
Turkey
Turkey will be among the NATO and partner countries taking part in
an exercise to be held in Armenia by NATO's EADRCC.
Though normalization efforts between estranged neighbors Turkey
and Armenia have stalled, Turkey will be among the NATO and partner
countries taking part in an exercise to be held in Armenia by NATO's
Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center (EADRCC).
Foreign Ministry officials based in Ankara, speaking with Cihan
NEws Agency on Wednesday, confirmed a media report that Turkey will
participate in a disaster response exercise called "Armenia 2010." The
exercise, organized by the EADRCC as a consequence management field
exercise, will take place between Sept. 11 and 17 in Armenia.
For the exercise, the border between Turkey and Armenia may be opened
"temporarily," Turkish diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told Cihan News Agency on Wednesday.
"During technical discussions at NATO headquarters in Brussels a
while ago, when such a possibility was raised by NATO officials,
the Turkish side responded favorably," diplomatic sources said.
Yet whether the border is physically suitable for the conduct of the
exercise is still in question. Nonetheless, whatever the scenario is
and however the border will be used, for instance for the crossing of
trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, the border will be closed again
upon the end of the exercises, the same diplomatic sources highlighted.
Although Turkey was among the first countries to recognize Armenia
after the ex-Soviet nation declared independence in 1991, the two
neighbors have no diplomatic relations. In 1993 Turkey shut its border
with Armenia in a show of solidarity with its close ally, Azerbaijan,
which was at war with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave,
dealing a heavy economic blow to the impoverished nation.
Ankara and Yerevan signed two protocols in Zurich on Oct. 10 of last
year on the establishment of diplomatic relations and the development
of bilateral relations between the two countries, including the
opening of their common border.
However, the process hit a rocky patch in January after an Armenian
court upheld the legality of the protocols but underlined that they
could not contradict Yerevan's official position that the alleged
Armenian genocide must be internationally recognized.
Turkey accused Yerevan of trying to set conditions on the deals. The
process of normalization has also been crippled by Turkey's insistence
on parallel progress on the Nagorno-Karabakh territorial dispute
between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
From: A. Papazian
www.worldbulletin.net
http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=61341
July 14 2010
Turkey
Turkey will be among the NATO and partner countries taking part in
an exercise to be held in Armenia by NATO's EADRCC.
Though normalization efforts between estranged neighbors Turkey
and Armenia have stalled, Turkey will be among the NATO and partner
countries taking part in an exercise to be held in Armenia by NATO's
Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center (EADRCC).
Foreign Ministry officials based in Ankara, speaking with Cihan
NEws Agency on Wednesday, confirmed a media report that Turkey will
participate in a disaster response exercise called "Armenia 2010." The
exercise, organized by the EADRCC as a consequence management field
exercise, will take place between Sept. 11 and 17 in Armenia.
For the exercise, the border between Turkey and Armenia may be opened
"temporarily," Turkish diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told Cihan News Agency on Wednesday.
"During technical discussions at NATO headquarters in Brussels a
while ago, when such a possibility was raised by NATO officials,
the Turkish side responded favorably," diplomatic sources said.
Yet whether the border is physically suitable for the conduct of the
exercise is still in question. Nonetheless, whatever the scenario is
and however the border will be used, for instance for the crossing of
trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, the border will be closed again
upon the end of the exercises, the same diplomatic sources highlighted.
Although Turkey was among the first countries to recognize Armenia
after the ex-Soviet nation declared independence in 1991, the two
neighbors have no diplomatic relations. In 1993 Turkey shut its border
with Armenia in a show of solidarity with its close ally, Azerbaijan,
which was at war with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave,
dealing a heavy economic blow to the impoverished nation.
Ankara and Yerevan signed two protocols in Zurich on Oct. 10 of last
year on the establishment of diplomatic relations and the development
of bilateral relations between the two countries, including the
opening of their common border.
However, the process hit a rocky patch in January after an Armenian
court upheld the legality of the protocols but underlined that they
could not contradict Yerevan's official position that the alleged
Armenian genocide must be internationally recognized.
Turkey accused Yerevan of trying to set conditions on the deals. The
process of normalization has also been crippled by Turkey's insistence
on parallel progress on the Nagorno-Karabakh territorial dispute
between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
From: A. Papazian