There is no hope that Europe could have some bearing on Turkey in the matter of opening the Armenian-Turkish border, Russian turkologist Victor Nadein-Raevsky told Armenian News-NEWS.am.  

He commented on the ruling Republican Party of Armenia representatives’ statements that the Armenia-EU Association Agreement may become an incentive for Turkey to open the boundary. 

“Europe is capable of having an effect on Turkey on numerous issues, but not in the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border. Because in this matter official Ankara proceeds in the best interests of Azerbaijan, in the context of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations,” the Turkologist noted.  

Nadein-Raevsky recalled that Europe had already tried once to normalize Armenian-Turkish relations, but this attempt ended with frozen protocols.  

At the same time the Russian turkologist stated that if the Armenian-Turkish border were to be opened, Armenia’s accession to the EU and the signing of the Armenia-EU Association Agreement would be meaningless.  

“Without open borders, this does not affect Armenia’s economy in any way,” Victor Nadein-Raevsky concluded.