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Tuesday, 11 May 2004
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT NOT TO ATTEND NATO SUMMIT
By empty (5/11/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Due to the lack of progress in improving Armenian-Turkish relations, President Kocharian will not attend the 28-29 June NATO summit in Istanbul, a presidential press spokesman told journalists in Yerevan on 10 May, RFE/RL\'s Armenian Service reported. The spokesman added that Kocharian\'s decision \"has nothing to do with Armenian-NATO relations, which are currently on the rise.\" A series of meetings over the past year between the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers fueled speculation that Ankara might reopen its border with Armenia, but more recently Turkish officials have assured Azerbaijan\'s President Ilham Aliyev that any such move is contingent on a solution to the Karabakh conflict that would formally preserve Azerbaijan\'s territorial integrity.
Due to the lack of progress in improving Armenian-Turkish relations, President Kocharian will not attend the 28-29 June NATO summit in Istanbul, a presidential press spokesman told journalists in Yerevan on 10 May, RFE/RL\'s Armenian Service reported. The spokesman added that Kocharian\'s decision \"has nothing to do with Armenian-NATO relations, which are currently on the rise.\" A series of meetings over the past year between the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers fueled speculation that Ankara might reopen its border with Armenia, but more recently Turkish officials have assured Azerbaijan\'s President Ilham Aliyev that any such move is contingent on a solution to the Karabakh conflict that would formally preserve Azerbaijan\'s territorial integrity. Armenia and Turkey do not have formal diplomatic relations. LF