"TURKEY 'NEARLY OPENED ARMENIAN BORDER IN 2003'
Emil Danielyan 2/04/05
A EurasiaNet Partner Post from RFE/RL
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Turkey came within an inch of opening its border with Armenia in the summer of 2003 but backed off after U.S. pressure on Ankara 'all but disappeared,' a renowned scholar privy to Turkish-American dealings writes in his latest book.
David Phillips, the chairman of the now defunct Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission (TARC), says the Turks refused to normalize relations with Armenia even after the administration of President George W. Bush effectively blocked yet another congressional resolution recognizing the 1915 Armenian genocide.
'I hoped that Ankara would quietly open its border sometime during the dead of summer, when everyone was on holiday and not paying attention,' he reveals in the book presented to the U.S. Council of Foreign Relations this week."
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