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Turkish Military Against Armenia Border Opening

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  • Turkish Military Against Armenia Border Opening

    TURKISH MILITARY AGAINST ARMENIA BORDER OPENING
    Emil Danielyan

    RFE/RL
    30.04.2009

    Turkey -- Turkish Chief of Staff General Ilker Basbug (L) and
    Azerbaijani Defense Minister General Safar Abiyev inspect a guard of
    honour in Ankara, 24Apr2009

    Turkey's powerful military has spoken out against normalizing relations
    with Armenia before a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,
    raising more questions about a U.S.-brokered agreement announced by
    Ankara and Yerevan last week.

    General Ilker Basbug, chief of the Turkish General Staff, was reported
    to endorse late Wednesday Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's
    statements linking the reopening of the Turkish-Armenian border with
    the liberation of Armenian-occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

    "The prime minister has clearly said the border opening will take
    place at the time when Armenian troops are withdrawn," Basbug told
    a news conference, according to Turkish media. "We completely agree
    with this."

    Erdogan repeatedly made that linkage earlier this month, pouring cold
    water on hopes that the fence-mending negotiations between Turkey
    and Armenia will yield tangible results soon. Still, the Turkish and
    Armenian foreign ministries announced in a joint statement on April
    22 that the two governments have agreed on a "roadmap" on normalizing
    bilateral ties.

    It remained unclear, however, when they plan to establish diplomatic
    relations and reopen t he border. Neither government has officially
    disclosed the framework yet.

    Reports in the Turkish press have said that the United States
    was closely involved in the drawing up of the Turkish-Armenian
    statement. According to "Hurriyet Daily News," Erdogan agreed to sign
    it only after Washington threatened to recognize the 1915 mass killings
    of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. U.S. President Barack
    Obama refrained from using the word in his April 24 statement that
    commemorated the 94th anniversary of the massacres.

    Meanwhile, diplomatic sources in Yerevan said on Thursday that Foreign
    Minister Eduard Nalbandian will fly to Washington this weekend for
    talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Turkish-Armenian
    relations will be high on their agenda.

    Clinton and Nalbandian already discussed the issue over the phone
    on Monday.

    According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Clinton described the
    "roadmap" agreement as "historic."
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