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Turkish Govm't Hints at Thaw in Stalled Turko-Armenian Peace Talks

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  • Turkish Govm't Hints at Thaw in Stalled Turko-Armenian Peace Talks

    World Markets Research Centre
    Global Insight
    April 8 2010


    Turkish Government Hints at Thaw in Stalled Turko-Armenian Peace Talks

    BYLINE: Grace Annan



    Yesterday, the undersecretary at the Turkish foreign affairs ministry,
    Feridun Sinirlioglu, met with Armenian foreign affairs minister Edward
    Nalbandian to revive the stalled Turko-Armenian peace talks. The
    meeting came one week ahead of the scheduled Armenia-Turkey meeting in
    Washington, where the Armenian and Turkish governments are set to take
    stock of their peace efforts, with the mediation of U.S. officials.
    Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hinted at a possible
    meeting with Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian at the fringes of an
    international summit on nuclear security during 11-12 April in
    Washington.

    Significance:Started amid great fanfare in October 2009, the peace
    talks have come to a halt. The obstacles are complex and manifold; a
    key stumbling block remains the scepticism of key decision makers,
    especially in Turkey, with regards to the peace process. The peace
    protocols signed in October need to be ratified by the Armenian and
    Turkish parliaments, something that is very difficult to achieve given
    recent events, which added further fuel to the fire (seeTurkey -
    Armenia: 18 March 2010:). It is most likely that next week's meeting
    will see Erdogan and Sarkisian pledging continued commitment to the
    protocols and urging each other to restrain from harming the fragile
    process through further provocation. In Armenia's case, this means the
    delays to the ratification in Turkey and Turkish siding with
    Azerbaijan regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave (seeArmenia -
    Azerbaijan: 23 March 2010:), and in Turkey's case, the push by
    Armenian lobbyists abroad for the recognition of the mass killings of
    Ottoman Armenians in the First World War.
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