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Armenia opposition leader supports mending Turkey ties

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  • Armenia opposition leader supports mending Turkey ties

    Agence France Presse
    May 1, 2009 Friday 1:21 PM GMT

    Armenia opposition leader supports mending Turkey ties

    YEREVAN, May 1 2009


    Armenia's former president, opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian told
    a crowd of supporters Friday that his party would back efforts to mend
    the country's fraught ties with Turkey.

    Ter-Petrosian told about 3,500 supporters at a rally in central
    Yerevan that his Armenian National Congress "is in favour of the
    soonest settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations and is ready to
    support all positive steps."

    Armenia and Turkey last month announced a "road map" deal for talks
    that could lead to the normalising of ties and the opening of their
    border.

    Ankara has refused to establish diplomatic links with Armenia over its
    efforts to have World War I-era massacres of Armenians by Ottoman
    Turks recognised as genocide -- a label Turkey strongly rejects.

    The efforts at reconciliation are facing opposition from nationalists
    on both sides and an Armenian nationalist party quit the country's
    ruling coalition last month over the deal.

    Ter-Petrosian remains highly influential in Armenia, where he was
    president from its 1991 independence from the Soviet Union until 1998.

    He came second to President Serzh Sarkisian in a presidential election
    last year, which opposition supporters allege was rigged.

    Ten people were killed in clashes between riot police and
    Ter-Petrosian's supporters after the vote.

    Ter-Petrosian has announced he will run in a May 31 vote to choose a
    new mayor of Yerevan.
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