The study was underpinned by the interactions between the people of the two societies despite the absence of diplomatic relations and the need arising thereby.

ANKARA/YEREVAN - TEPAV and Yerevan-based International Center for Human Development (ICHD) released a report titled “Review of Legal Issues between Armenia and Turkey.” The research primarily aims at relocating Turkish-Armenian interactions within the sphere of law.

The report authored by Dr. Burcu Gültekin Punsmann, Ali Osman Dizman and Seda Kırdar (TEPAV) and Anna Gevorgyan (ICHD) is based on the findings of the research carried out as a part “Support to Armenia-Turkey Rapprochement” project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“The absence of diplomatic relations has a psychological dimension”

According to the report, the proximity factor between Turkey and Armenia has been at work despite the closed border separating the two countries: “Turkish and Armenian societies do interact.” The authors of the report assess that people to people contacts as an indispensable tool in solving even the most sensitive problems and that the absence of diplomatic relations has a psychological dimension for societies. At this point, the report asks to what extent this constitutes an impediment to daily interactions between Armenians and Turks and to the further development of people to people contacts. In this context, the report stresses, “This degree of pragmatism can be a source of inspiration for overcoming problems obstructing daily interactions and more ambitiously the design of policy frameworks for the further development of interactions between the peoples of Armenia and Turkey.”