TEPAV hosted Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Yerevan based Caucasus Institute at a roundtable discussion dedicated to the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement on 17 November. Alexander Iskandaryan analyzed the debate in Armenia and among Armenians on the normalization of relations with Turkey.

The issue has become part of the domestic political agenda, the signature of the protocols in Zurich on 11 October has reactivated deeply-rooted fears. However the fact Armenia and Turkey are and will be neighbours calls for the normalization of the relations. Alexander Iskandaryan argued that the Armenian government has the willingness and the capacity to ratify the protocols: however the general tendency would be to wait for Turkey to ratify them first. Mr Iskandaryan stressed that Armenia shouldn’t remain as an exception in Ahmet Davutoglu’s zero problem with neighbours policy. The absence of direct relations with Armenia would impend on Turkey’s capability to act as an independent regional actor.According to Mr Iskandaryan, the intensification of human to human contacts between Armenians and Turks have already opened the mental border.