Azerbaijan, Baku, November 24 / Trend, A. Tagiyeva /
The Armenian-Turkish border will not be opened until Azerbaijani lands are freed, Turkey's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Hulusi Kilic reported.
"Armenian-Turkish border will not be opened until the Azerbaijani lands are liberated," the Ambassador told journalists on Thursday.
This is the official position of Ankara, he added.
Turkish and Armenian businessmen signed a Memorandum of cooperation. The framework agreement signed at the sidelines of an Armenian-Turkish business forum in Yerevan on November 22-23 envisions intensification of contacts amongst entrepreneurs of the two states and lobbying of business structures in the issue of opening of the Armenian-Turkish border.
Responsible for this task will be the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Armenia from Armenian side and the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council (TABDC) from Turkish side.
Turkish and Armenian Foreign Ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward Nalbandyan signed Protocols of normalization of bilateral relations in Zurich on October 10, 2009. The Protocols, to enter into force, need to be ratified by the Parliaments of the two countries.
The Government of Turkey stated that relations between Ankara and Yerevan will be restored after Armenia pulls out from the occupied Azerbaijani lands.
There are no diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia, and the border between the two countries has been closed since 1993. The reasons are that the Armenians claim for international recognition of the so-called genocide and that the Armenian armed forces have occupied Azerbaijani territories.