Barrack Obama visit provides condition for opening Turkey-Armenia border: Turkish Centre for Int’l Relations & Strategic Analysis director

"Opening Turkey-Armenia borders can not be surprise for anyone," Turkey's Centre for International Relations and Strategic Analysis (TURKAM) director Sinan Ogan told Trend News in a telephone conversation from Ankara.

U.S. President Barack Obama will pay an official visit to Turkey on April 6-7. Opening Turkey-Armenia border and issues related Washington-Ankara relations will be discussed during the visit, Huriyyet newspaper reported.

"President Barack Obama did what his predecessors did not. Before the presidential election Obama promised Armenians to recognize Armenian genocide fives times verbally and one in a written form," Ogan added.

Ogan said U.S. needs Turkey in withdrawing forces from Iraq and deploying new ones in Afghanistan. Turkey-Armenia border will open soon. It can take place also this month.

"Official Ankara made terms to Yerevan. None of these terms have been fulfilled yet. We oppose opening borders as Armenia has not fulfilled Turkey's terms," he added.

Ogan said if Turkey acts in an arbitrary manner regarding border issue, it will not have a positive effect on the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.

"If Turkey takes into consideration Azerbaijani government's views and makes terms to Yerevan while opening borders, it can contribute to the conflict's resolution. It will not help resolve the conflict if Azerbaijan's interests are ignored while taking this step," he said.

He said before opening borders Ankara must receive guarantee from Armenia and Washington and Azerbaijan's interests must be taken into consideration.

"Though greater part of Turkish public is against opening borders, this move will not stir up anxiety in country," he said.

Turkey and Armenia seek to normalize ties severed since 1993. Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan on Sept. 6, 2008 upon the invitation of his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to watch an Armenia-Turkey football match.

Efforts have been made to normalize ties between the two countries ever since.

Armenian-Turkish ties have been severed due to Armenia's claims of an alleged genocide, the country's occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands and territorial claims to Turkey's Anatolia province.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.

/Trend News/