Opening borders with Armenia impossible without Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement: Turkish MP

"Opening borders with Armenia is impossible without solution of one of the principal questions for Turkey - the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict - is impossible," Shenol Bal, MP from the party, told Trend News in a telephone conversation.  

Representatives of various circles of Turkish community suppose that the borders with Armenia will be opened.

Today oppositional parties of Turkey - Republican People's Party and Nationalist Movement Party required the Turkish government to hold discussions and to make a decision in connection with opening border with Armenia.
Discussions on this question in Turkey led to the disputes.

Armenian-Turkish ties have been severed since 1993 due to Armenia's claims of an alleged genocide, and the country's occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands.

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.

Yet the government has not concretely answered the questions of opposition parties regarding opening borders with Armenia, Shenol said.

He said that during a week, a group of Azerbaijani MPs will arrive in Turkey to discuss this question jointly.

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/