“If the Armenia-Turkey border is opened, Syria will be quite close to Armenia, and it will be possible to leave Aleppo in the morning and reach Yerevan by car in the evening,” Daniel Ioannisyan who has launched a signature campaign on the US President’s website to open the Armenia-Turkey border said during a conversation with www.aravot.am. In his opinion, opening the Armenia-Turkey border will make it easier for Armenian Syrians to come to Armenia by land, since Armenian Syrians have a lot of difficulty coming to the Republic of Armenia by air. During a conversation with us, D. Ioannisyan went into detail: “At present, the only way for Armenian Syrians to come to Armenia is by land. With regard to the air route, tickets are limited. Now Armenian Syrians have a lot of difficulty coming to Armenia by land, since they are compelled to travel 2000km and enter Georgia, a strange country for them. There are mountain roads, it is hard to reach in one day, and they are compelled to stay in hotels for one or two nights. This is almost impossible.”
In response to our question whether they were not afraid of criticism that opening the Armenia-Turkey border for Armenian Syrians alone might have negative consequences, D. Ioannisyan said the following: “When the Armenia-Turkey protocols were signed in 2009, I was among those who protested against them, I was even taken in once. The content of those protocols provided for many other things, which naturally weren’t in Armenia’s interest. As for the signature campaign on the US President’s website initiated by me, it is about opening the border without preconditions. Opening the border without preconditions doesn’t presuppose either the genocide issue, or a historical commission, or accepting-not accepting the territorial integrity; the border is just opened. The signature campaign moves on, we reached 500 signatures yesterday. It progresses slower than we would like. It is because the procedure is rather difficult.”
We inquired of turkologist Artak Shakaryan whether opening the Armenia-Turkey border was appropriate at the moment. He replied: “I think opening the border without preconditions is appropriate. It is important to raise the issue and disturb Turkey all the time, keeping the issue on the agenda.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
