Armenia will gain more of Armenian-Turkish relations’ settlement, The Washington Times political experts suppose.

“Although the process has been slow, the historic bid to normalize relations between Turkey and Armenia announced in April has potential to shift regional power balances by giving Armenia an opportunity to wrest itself from dependence on Russia,” the article reads.

Turkey closed the border in 1993 in response to Armenia’s support of ethic Armenians in Azerbaijan.

If the border reopens Armenia will have more opportunities to commerce through Mediterranean ports and Black Sea, being less dependent on transit through Russia.

“Armenia is a weak country, and it is surrounded by countries that are not friendly or were not friendly up until very recently,” said Masha Lipman, political analyst with the Moscow Carnegie Center.

In April, Armenian and Turkish diplomats stated that two-year secret negotiations were a certain precondition for the bilateral relations, also including Genocide issue investigating commission.

“If this is real … it should take a long time. We've only seen the beginning of it,” said Lipman.

Armenia closely cooperated with Russia since USSR collapse, while Iran expanded economic ties with this country. Lipman considers these relations “have been built out of necessity.”

“If opened up, Armenia could potentially work toward NATO and EU integration and could become a major transit country for energy trade like it's northern neighbor Georgia”, the experts conclude.