ANKARA, JULY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF) held Armenian-Turkish expert discussions in Istanbul and Ankara on July 8-9 with the participation of the Istanbul-based Global Political Trends Center (GPTC) and with the financial assistance of the USAID. GPTC organized the conference entitled "Armenia-Turkey expert discussions" at Istanbul Culture University on July 8. Among participants were Armenian, Turkish and international reporters, diplomats and experts. Ambassador, lecturer of Yerevan State University (YSU) David Hovhannisian and senior advisor of Istanbul Center of Political Science at Sabanci University Evust Lagendayk were the main speakers of the round table discussions moderated by Chairman of the Board of Anadolu Kultur organization Osman Kavala. Following the conference, the Armenian group visited Dogan Media Center where the group members met with the famous Turkish reporter, political commentator and writer Mehmed Ali Birand and CNN Turk television company advisor Ferhat Boratav and toured the offices of the media center. On the second day the group went to Ankara to meet with several high-ranking Turkish officials. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Turkey's Deputy Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu received the group of representatives of GPTC and EPF. He spoke about the current state of Armenian-Turkish relations and the ministry's approaches to the future of these relations. Then the group visited Turkish parliament and met with MP of Justice and Development Party, deputy chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Suat Kinikoglu and MP of the same party, former foreign minister, Ambassador Yasar Yakis, who informed the group members about the government approaches and positions on the Armenian-Turkish normalization process and responded to their questions. According to the press release submitted to NT, the meetings in Istanbul and Ankara were a continuation of the Yerevan discussions. They were part of the USAID-financed project "The Further Steps of the Armenian-Turkish Normalization".

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