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TURKEY WILL OPEN THE BORDER AND ESTABLISH RELATIONS WITH ARMENIA, JEWISH POLITICAL ANALYST SAYS
Gita Elibekyan
"Radiolur"
18.06.2012 16:59
"Turkey will open the border and will normalize relations with
Armenia," famous Jewish political analyst Alexander Murinson
says. He currently teaches "Turkey's Foreign Policy" at Tbilisi's
Ilya Chavchavadze State University. "Turkey is just waiting for a
proper moment for that," he said.
Relations with the countries of the South Caucasus play an important
role in Turkey's foreign policy, Alexander Murinson is confident.
Noting that the Turkish principle of "zero problem with neighbors" does
not exist at all, he says Turkey has problems not only with Armenia.
"The protocols on establishment of relations between Armenia and Turkey
were not implemented, because the reaction of Azerbaijan affected
the political circles of Turkey," Murinson says, adding, however,
that Turkey will pursue the opening of the border and normalization
of relations.
"Among other things it's connected with domestic problems. Turkish
territories close to the border simply suffer because of undeveloped
economy. In this regard, the residents of Kars and other regions
stand for trade with Armenia."
The processes taking place in the Middle East are in the focus of
attention of the world powers today, and being a neighbor of Iran and
Syria Turkey could not have stayed apart from the developments. "The
establishment of relations with Armenia is not a priority today in
the light of these developments," Alexander Murinson says.
At the same time the expert emphasizes that Turkey will not do that
without preconditions. "Turkey will not refuse from its claims. They
expect the Armenian side to take concrete steps connected with the
Karabakh issue, after which they will normalize the relations."
As for the Armenian Genocide issue, the analyst says Erdogan
understands the essence of the issue and has taken some minor steps in
that direction. "The Turkish press often refers to the question today.
This means the intellectuals are trying to make the Genocide issue a
topic of open discussions and research. There are political forces,
which attach importance to the issue. However, there are some
nationalist forces beside them, and it's hard to say whether there
will be any progress on the issue before the balance changes in a
more liberal direction," Murinson says.
Gita Elibekyan
"Radiolur"
18.06.2012 16:59
"Turkey will open the border and will normalize relations with
Armenia," famous Jewish political analyst Alexander Murinson
says. He currently teaches "Turkey's Foreign Policy" at Tbilisi's
Ilya Chavchavadze State University. "Turkey is just waiting for a
proper moment for that," he said.
Relations with the countries of the South Caucasus play an important
role in Turkey's foreign policy, Alexander Murinson is confident.
Noting that the Turkish principle of "zero problem with neighbors" does
not exist at all, he says Turkey has problems not only with Armenia.
"The protocols on establishment of relations between Armenia and Turkey
were not implemented, because the reaction of Azerbaijan affected
the political circles of Turkey," Murinson says, adding, however,
that Turkey will pursue the opening of the border and normalization
of relations.
"Among other things it's connected with domestic problems. Turkish
territories close to the border simply suffer because of undeveloped
economy. In this regard, the residents of Kars and other regions
stand for trade with Armenia."
The processes taking place in the Middle East are in the focus of
attention of the world powers today, and being a neighbor of Iran and
Syria Turkey could not have stayed apart from the developments. "The
establishment of relations with Armenia is not a priority today in
the light of these developments," Alexander Murinson says.
At the same time the expert emphasizes that Turkey will not do that
without preconditions. "Turkey will not refuse from its claims. They
expect the Armenian side to take concrete steps connected with the
Karabakh issue, after which they will normalize the relations."
As for the Armenian Genocide issue, the analyst says Erdogan
understands the essence of the issue and has taken some minor steps in
that direction. "The Turkish press often refers to the question today.
This means the intellectuals are trying to make the Genocide issue a
topic of open discussions and research. There are political forces,
which attach importance to the issue. However, there are some
nationalist forces beside them, and it's hard to say whether there
will be any progress on the issue before the balance changes in a
more liberal direction," Murinson says.