Armenia, Turkey close to signing of agreement on normalization of relations

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia and Turkey are close to signing of an agreement on normalization of relations, director of Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS).



"A protocol on establishment of diplomatic relations will not be signed on April 16 during the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister to Armenia," Richard Giragosian told a news conference in Yerevan today.



At that, he said that normalization of bilateral relations will have both positive and negative consequences.



"Turkey claims the position of main regional actor. It's sick and tired of continuous talks with the European Union," Mr. Giragosian said.



"U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Turkey was a necessity. It will be extremely hard to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq without Ankara's assistance," he said, adding that Obama has done everything he planned without offending Turks and falling short of using the term Genocide.



"I think he will do the same on April 24. He will say mass killings instead of Armenian Genocide," he said.