YEREVAN, JUNE 21. ARMINFO. There is no specific prospect of the Armenian-Turkish border opening for the moment, says Armenia’s FM Vardan Oskanyan.
Commenting on the reports about Turkey’s restoring the check point of Ak Yaka Oskanyan says: “I don’t them seriously. Sometimes they reflect the official position sometimes not. I am based on the facts I see and get during our talks.”
Oskanyan says that the issue is on the agenda of the Armenian-US, Armenian-Turkish and Turkish-US talks. “Every time I meet with US top officials they assure me that they are discussing this issue with the Turkish side as the open Armenian-Turkish border serves their interests too.” Turkey is also interested in the issue but it is still being pressured by Azerbaijan. On the other hand Turkey is seeking to join EU and partake in NATO enlargement. This should pos some great responsibility for Ankara and can indirectly pressure it into changing its policy on Yerevan.
Oskanyan says that Armenia is already on Wider Europe program while Turkey will possibly start EU accession talks in late 2003-early 2004. As a NATO member Turkey should feel itself responsible for bridging Europe with Caucasus, EU with Caucasus, Caucasus with NATO. Turkey should feel and feels not only the US and EU pressure but also the fact of Europe’s enlargement and NATO’s new policy on Caucasus and Central Asia. The question is which of the factors – Azerbaijan’s pressure or Europe’s geo-political strategy – will become dominating for Turkey. “In any we will continue negotiating with Ankara and I am sure that we will see progress in the matter,” says Oskanyan.
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