Turkey may open Armenia border

Ankara: Turkey is considering whether to temporarily open its border with Armenia for a Nato disaster relief exercise in September, a Turkish diplomat said Thursday.

"We will be taking part in the exercise," to be held in Armenia on September 11-17, the diplomat told media on condition of anonymity.

"We are looking into the possibility on whether the border may be opened if such a necessity arises...There has been no decision yet," she said.

The frontier has been sealed for 17 years due to political tensions between the two neighbours, long estranged over Armenian allegations that their kin were the victim of genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I.

The diplomat said the authorities were looking into whether the infrastructure of the border area was suitable for use during the Nato drills, to be based on a scenario of civil emergency after an earthquake.

Key item

Re-opening the border was a key item in a historic deal Turkey and Armenia signed in October to establish diplomatic ties.

But the process stalled in April when Yerevan halted ratification of the accord on the grounds that Ankara was not truly committed to its terms.

The Today's Zaman newspaper reported yesterday that Ankara was in favour of opening the frontier for the exercise.

"During technical discussions at Nato headquarters in Brussels a while ago, when such a possibility was raised by Nato officials, the Turkish side responded favourably," unnamed sources told the daily.