Azernews.Az

Reporters of Turkey’s major media outlets are meeting in the Armenian capital Yerevan with their counterparts. The discussions aim to forge ties and create an environment of mutual understanding by covering relations between the two nations, who face decades of enmity.
The meeting, to last till Sunday, is taking place as part of a project of the Eurasia Partnership Foundation aiming to promote unbiased coverage in the Turkish and Armenian media, Novosti Armenii news agency reported. Attending the meeting are employees of Turkey’s leading media, including CNN Turk and NTV channels, as well as Milliyet, Sabah, Hurriyet, Cumhuriyyet and Akhsham newspapers.
Kadri Gursel, a Milliyet commentator, said at the meeting that Turkey will not ratify the agreement on normalizing ties signed with Armenia in October unless progress is made in settling the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh. "And there is no change in Ankara’s stance at this point."
Farhad Boratav, a CNN Turk department head, said Turkey and Armenia "are not a couple dancing tango, as the United States, Russia and Azerbaijan are also involved in this dance."
"No one was expecting Azerbaijan to put up such resistance [against normalization of Turkey-Armenia relations]. Neither was anyone anticipating Azerbaijan’s pressure in the East-West energy game. And this is the reason of Turkey’s ending up in a challenging situation."
The Turkish and Armenian governments signed protocols in Zurich October 10 to forge diplomatic ties and open the sealed border, following decades of hostility caused by the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory and claims on "genocide" in the Ottoman Empire. Ankara’s move caused a cool-down in its relations with Baku. Turkey assured its ally, however, that parliamentary approval of the documents depends on a fair Garabagh settlement.
The meeting of the Turkish and Armenian reporters was funded by the Norwegian government and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The two countries’ journalists met for the first time in the Turkish town of Bursa this past October and discussed the media’s role in promoting Turkey-Armenia reconciliation.*