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Half of Armenians support normalization of Armenia-Turkey ties: survey

Xinhua, April 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

Fifty percent of Armenians support the normalization of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey, a local researcher said Tuesday.

Seventy-nine percent of the respondents expressed interest in the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, while 51 percent backed the eventual opening of the border between the two countries, said Heghine Manasyan, director of Armenia's Center for Strategic and National Studies, when revealing the results of a survey conducted by the center at the end of 2014.

Manasyan also told journalists that 62 percent of Armenians believed that the possible normalization of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey would lead to economic gain.

Meanwhile, 37 percent believed that cooperation in the political field would be possible, and 42 percent wanted the Turkish authorities to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The survey was conducted under the framework of the European program "Promotion of normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey" among 1,900 respondents in Armenia.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan initiated the process of the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey in 2008.

Currently there are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey. The Armenian-Turkish border remains closed since 1993 after Turkey closed it in support of Azerbaijan over the Karabakh issue.

Armenia and Turkey disagree over the issue of the Armenian Genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey were killed and persecuted in 1915-1923. All of the governments of Turkey have rejected the allegations that it was a bloody massacre.

Turkey and Armenia reportedly signed an agreement in 2009 to open their borders and establish diplomatic ties but it has not been implemented. Endi