Armenian FM to Washington to request support on smoothing ties with Turkey

Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian begins a two day working visit to Washington, DC today, directly on the heels of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to the White House. It has been announced that one of the major topics of the surprise visit to Washington by this high level Armenian diplomat will be Turkish-Armenian relations. Oskanian, who will meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, will bring the question of Armenian-Turkish dialogue to the table, and will also meet with National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley on the same subject. Speculation in political circles is that the Armenian representation will request intervention from the US on restarting the Armenian-Turkish dialogue which never got off the ground as planned at last month's Polish European Council summit. Â