Turkey-Azerbaijan Businessmen Association head: Turkey not to open borders with Armenia

"Turkey is less likely to open borders with Armenia without taking into consideration the Nagorno-Karabakh. Turkish citizen are also concerned with the Karabakh problem and Azerbaijan's refugees," Turkey-Azerbaijan Businessmen Association director Chingiz Gul told Trend News.

Turkey's SABAH newspaper quoted the anonymous EU official as saying that he hopes the Turkey-Armenia border will be opened following U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Turkey in April.

Obama will trip to Turkey on April 5-7.

Armenian-Turkish ties have been severed since 1993 because of Armenia's false "genocide" claims and occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands. Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan on September 6, 2008 at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisyan to watch Armenia-Turkey football match within the European Cup. Efforts have been made since then to normalize ties between the two countries.

/Trend News/