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ANKARA: Ankara to extend condolence to Armenia via Georgia

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  • ANKARA: Ankara to extend condolence to Armenia via Georgia

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    March 27 2007

    Ankara to extend condolence to Armenia via Georgia

    In the wake of the sudden death of Armenian Prime Minister Andranik
    Margaryan, Ankara is readying a letter of condolence that it will
    send to Yerevan, with which it has no diplomatic relations, via the
    Georgian capital of Tbilisi.


    According to information obtained from diplomatic sources, Prime
    Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan will send a note of condolence to
    Armenian President Robert Kocharian. Ankara had not received an
    invitation for Margaryan's funeral when Today's Zaman went to press.

    The Armenian government was summoned to an emergency meeting by
    President Kocharian following Margaryan's death. According to the
    Armenian Constitution the new prime minister will be determined in 10
    days and the new government will be established in the following 20
    days.

    A commission has been formed for Margaryan's funeral. The first
    ceremony will be held on Tuesday (today), and after the civil
    ceremony Margaryan's body will be brought to the National Academic
    Opera and Ballet House around noon. He will be interred at the
    Komitas Pantheon cemetery.

    His death is not expected to have any serious effect on the internal
    politics of Armenia or to make any positive contribution to
    Ankara-Yerevan relations. An expert in the field, Dr. Kamer Kasým,
    recalled that Armenia had a presidential system and thus the prime
    minister does not have a large effect on Armenian politics. The death
    of Margaryan, who was also the leader of the Republican Party, will
    not effect the parliamentary elections to be held on May 12, Kasým
    noted, and named two of the candidates for the prime minister's
    office as Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanyan and Defense Minister Serj
    Sarkissian.

    Margaryan, who died following a heart attack on Sunday, was an
    Armenian of Anatolian descent. In a statement he once made, he said,
    `My family is from Muþ [a southeastern Turkish city]. My grandfather
    was one of the leading figures of Muþ, Sekrak Margaryan. In fact,
    almost all the members of our Ministerial Board are of Anatolian
    descent. And half of them are from Muþ.'
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