YEREVAN, OCTOBER 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The Institute of Open Society NGO held a telephone survey in Yerevan to find out society's opinion of the normalization process of Armenian-Turkish relations and the initiated Armenian-Turkish protocols. As organization head Edgar Hakobian reported at an October 8 press conference, 1306 citizens above 18 took part in the survey. The majority of respondents, 61.6% is aware of the latest developments in normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations. 58.7% of them treats positively the initiative of normalizing the Armenian-Turkish relations, 29.2% treats negatively and 12.1% is neutral. In the opinion of 48.5% respondents, the protocols have no preconditions and 37.2% considers that they have preconditions. 22.4% considers that the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border is rather necessary for Armenia, 16.3% for Turkey and 22% for Armenia and Turkey. In the opinion of RA Public Council member Karine Danielian, very often people do not answer sincerely to such questions. "They often think that it is a check of how they treat the authorities," she said. K. Danielian is among the few members of the Public Council who thinks that the protocols contain more risks than positive elements. "In my opinion, we are caught in a trap. The initiation has already taken place, the process has started, the international community has welcomed it. And if we renounce it now, we will meet a very negative attitude," K. Danielian said.

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