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The Foreign Affairs Minister of Turkey, being in Baku in January of the current year, has noted in
reply to the question of "525ci Gazet" that Turkey will open its borders with Armenia when Azerbaijan wants it.

USA calls upon the Turkish government to open the Armenian border. The latter is stated in the last
report of the State Department. Taking this report as a basis, Armenian sources have disseminated
information about how the opening of the borders will impact the development of trade ties and the
restoration of economic relations between the two states, and in the end will favorably affect the
whole region. The report states that this issue was discussed on April 2 during the meeting of the
US Secretary of State Collin Powel with the Foreign Affairs Minister of Turkey Abdulah Gull.
However, the report does not contain any information on the details of the given meeting.

As a whole, the suggestions on opening the borders between Turkey and Armenia are not new and they
have been voiced at different levels. Already on January 19 of 2000, a protocol on cooperation was
signed between the municipality heads of Kars and Gyumri - Naif Alibeyoglu and Vartan Gukasyan. It
was also mentioned in the protocol that a temporary agreement, before the opening of the
borders between Turkey and Armenia, had been achieved with the plenipotentiary bodies of
Georgia that border trade Shirak-Kars would be organized once a week at the check-points between
Georgia and Turkey

Then one of the local businessmen, coordinator of the activities on the development of ties
Kars-Gyumri, Alijan Alibeyoglu has declared in the conversation with our correspondent that this,
(opening of the borders), is the only way out of the chaos for the region. In his opinion, the fact
that Turkey, presenting claims for accession to the Council of Europe, keeps the border with one
of the neighboring countries closed may be assessed as a violation of the commitments
undertaken by this state. Answering the questions of the "525ci Gazet" correspondent, the head of
Kars municipality Naif Alibeyoglu said that the resolution of the Karabagh problem solely through
military means is impossible, "Hostility cannot last forever, especially as neither they nor we
will be able to exterminate each other. Therefore our only condition at present is living in peace.
But the most important condition is that they liberate Karabagh".

In his conversation with us the co-chairman of the Turkish-Armenian Business Council Kaan Soyak,
commenting on the prospects of Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, said that if the reconciliation
and opening of the borders would be to the benefit of the South Caucasus as a whole, the opening of
the borders was possible, "That is Turkish-Armenian ties are not a utopia but a
reality which may turn into a topic for discussion. We believe that the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline will bring stability to the whole region. According to the
data provided by State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) starting from 2004 the volume of the daily
extraction of oil in Azerbaijan will surpass the capacity of "Baku-Ceyhan." If the political
conditions are profitable, it is even possible for the second pipeline to pass through Yerevan."
However, Ankara still officially gives no positive answer to the suggestions by a part of
businessmen and public organizations to open the borders with Armenia.

All political forces of Turkey, coming to power at different periods of time, have unanimously
declared that the borders will be opened when Armenians liberate the occupied Azerbaijani
territories.

In his interview to our correspondent, the Foreign Affairs Minister of Turkey, Yasar Yakis, being in
Baku in January of this year, has confirmed that there will be no changes in the policy of his
state concerning Armenia. Yashar Yakish, refuting the rumors from the Armenian sources that
officially Ankara is seemingly planning to change the policy towards its closest neighbor Armenia,
said that Turkey would like to enlarge its relations with all the neighboring countries,
"However, we do not want to change the relations with Armenia, without taking into account
Azerbaijan's wish. We will not change our policy and will open the borders only when Azerbaijan
wants it."

The Foreign Affairs Minister of Azerbaijan,Vilayet Guliev, accompanying Y. Yakish, has once
again declared that officially Baku will agree to the opening of the border between Turkey and
Armenia only after the resolution of the Karabagh problem.

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