Azernews.Az

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian met with leaders of the country`s political parties on Thursday, launching domestic consultations on normalizing the country`s strained relations with Turkey. The closed-door discussions were attended by Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian.
Samvel Fermanian, the Armenian president`s spokesman, said that the chairmen of 52 out of the 64 invited parties joined the discussions. According to Fermanian, the debate was ``very lively.``
Armenia and Turkey have been at odds, and the border between the two countries has been closed since 1993 on Ankara`s insistence due to Armenia`s policy of occupying Azerbaijani territory and Armenian genocide claims. Ankara and Yerevan agreed on August 31 to begin discussions on forging diplomatic ties and developing bilateral relations. The two countries announced they would complete domestic consultations regarding two agreements within six weeks, to be followed by their ratification at the Turkish and Armenian parliaments.
Sarkisian`s discussions with local politicians follow Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu`s meeting with two opposition party leaders a day earlier. Yalchin Topchu, chairman of the Great Union Party, asserted that the protocols to be signed with Armenia should include a provision on the pullout of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories, while Husamettin Cindoruk, a former parliament speaker and Democratic Party chairman, said Azerbaijan should be involved in Turkey`s discussions with Armenia.
Sarkisian said at his meeting with party leaders that a positive and important process began after the governments in Yerevan and Ankara issued a joint statement announcing their intent to normalize ties and to sign two agreements.
``In the past few days I familiarized myself with the specifics of various views expressed, and heard both encouraging calls and quite harsh criticism and concerns. But we have to act to properly evaluate this. We have to succeed in putting all the opinions and presumptions in one realm,`` the Armenian president said.
Addressing the politicians he was hosting, Sarkisian said that, by inviting his Turkish counterpart to Yerevan and making an effort to advance the discussions, he had sought to broaden options for mending ties between the two countries.
``There is basically no one opposing mending ties with Turkey. And, even if there are such opponents, their numbers are small.``
Sarkisian emphasized that meetings on normalizing Ankara-Yerevan ties will be held in diverse formats and that he will join these discussions in person.
Also, Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian said in parliament last Wednesday that the support of the Armenian public was pivotal for signing the two agreements.
``We [the government] have to secure public support in the course of discussions, and only after that will we be able to sign them,`` Nalbandian said.
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian pointed out the need for holding a nationwide poll in his country in the future, as proposed by some, to determine whether or not signing the protocols is appropriate, but said it was too early for that now.
``Taking into account that discussions on normalizing Armenia-Turkey relations are underway with political party representatives on the president`s initiative, I believe it is premature to talk about holding a referendum. I am confident that answers will be found to a number of questions at those meetings, and only after that will it be clear how discussions on this issue will unfold in Armenia.``
Meanwhile, Turkey`s Hurriyet newspaper quoted the Turkish foreign minister as saying, after meeting the chairman of the opposition People`s Republic Party, Deniz Baykal, that Ankara and Yerevan are due to sign the protocols on October 13.
On October 14, Turkey will host a soccer match with Armenia`s national team and President Sarkisian is expected to attend the game. Thus, Foreign Ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Eduard Nalbandian reportedly intend to sign the protocols a day before the match.
Signs of a warming in Turkish-Armenian relations appeared after Turkish President Abdullah Gul attended a 2010 World Cup qualifying soccer match along with his counterpart in Yerevan in September 2008. Further, Gul invited Sarkisian to Turkey for a return game. Also, the two governments agreed to a comprehensive ``roadmap`` this past April to normalize relations. However, Ankara has made clear that it could normalize ties with Yerevan only after the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict has been fairly settled.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated Ankara`s assurances last week that the country will not open its border with Armenia until it pulls out of Azerbaijani territories.
``I believe that settlement of the Upper Garabagh conflict is very close. If Armenia fails to take steps toward vacating Azerbaijan`s territories, opening the border is out of the question,`` Turkish Milliyet newspaper quoted Erdogan as saying at an Iftar dinner served for the heads of media outlets.
He said Armenia would swiftly withdraw from five occupied Azerbaijani districts, adding that discussions were underway on liberating one more district.

Border to open for a day
Turkey plans to open its border with Armenia on the day it hosts the soccer match of the national teams as a sign of goodwill, and President Sarkisian will travel to Turkey by road to attend the game, Milliyet newspaper reported.
Richard Giragosyan, the director of Armenia`s National and International Research Center, said in an interview with a visiting Turkish journalist that the Azerbaijani leadership will offer its maximum support to the Turkey-Armenia rapprochement and to the recent agreements on normalizing the two countries` strained relations, Milliyet said.
Giragosyan maintained that the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents would meet to discuss the Garabagh conflict at the mediating OSCE Minsk Group`s initiative in early October and issue a joint statement, which will allow Ankara to continue the normalization process with Yerevan.
However, Azerbaijan has vehemently opposed the prospect of opening the Turkey-Armenia border. Parliament Speaker Ogtay Asadov said in a meeting with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey that the border opening process should be carried out simultaneously with the liberation of Azerbaijani territories from Armenian occupation.
Asadov made clear that Baku had no intent to meddle in Ankara and Yerevan`s internal affairs, but noted that opening the border prior to the Armenian pullout, along with contradicting Azerbaijani interests, would be a dire blow to efforts to establish peace in the volatile South Caucasus region.