‘Genocide’ not condition for normal ties with Turkey

Armenia wants its border gate with Turkey, closed for a decade, to be re-opened and does not see Ankara’s recognition of an alleged genocide against Armenians at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire a condition for talks aimed at the normalization of ties between the two neighbors, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian has said.

Addressing a conference in Rome, Oskanian said the fact that its border gates with neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan were closed constituted "serious difficulties" for his country, the Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying.

Turkey closed its border gate with land-locked Armenia in the early 1990s, severing diplomatic ties in protest of Armenia’s occupation of the Azeri territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ankara says normalization of ties with Yerevan depends on Armenia withdrawing its forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and ceasing its support of Armenian diaspora efforts aimed at winning international recognition for the alleged genocide.

Turkey categorically rejects genocide charges, saying the killings were a result of efforts to quell civil unrest during World War I.

Oskanian said Armenia was not against Turkey’s accession into the European Union, although it looked difficult because of persisting deficiencies, and predicted that Ankara would have to reconsider its position on a number of issues, including its border gate policy with Armenia, as part of its bid to join the wealthy bloc.

An Armenian lobby in Europe argue that recognition of the alleged genocide should be a condition of Turkey’s accession into the EU. Backing Armenian claims, Greek Cypriot Parliament Speaker Dimitris Christophias said during a visit to Yerevan that Turkey should recognize the allegations before joining the EU.

In Brussels in the European Parliament, a two-day convention of Armenians living in Europe ended on Tuesday with a statement appealing to EU leaders not to let Turkey join the EU unless it recognized the alleged genocide.