International Crisis Group releases its opinion on Armenian-Turkish dialogue

"The Armenian-Turkey rapprochement will actually encourage the Armenians to be more flexible in the negotiation with Azerbaijan," Freizer said.

"The talks lack progress because the remaining issues are extremely difficult."

Freizer ssid the Armenia's main argument for retaining control over the occupied territories is because they say "We need to have these territories as a security guarantee. We feel isolated and we need these territories to protect ourselves".

"Once the border with Turkey is open, that excuse will no longer be valid. They will have access to the rest of the world. And thus they will no longer be able to say that they need all these territories as security guarantees," she added.

The reason why Azerbaijan and Armenia have been unable to agree to a kind of compromise is that they are still dealing with issues that extremely difficult to resolve, Freized added.

One of the main questions is the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, she said.

But the two sides could still agree on a basic principles document. The two sides agreed that there should be a withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territories and that eventually this withdrawal should be from seven occupied territories. The sides also agreed that there should be non-use of force by any sides, she said.

"The two sides seem to have agreed on above mentioned. I hope that the sides will sign a document that at least puts into writing these significant issues the parties agreed upon," Freizer said.

/Trend News/