YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenians are better informed about their direct neighbors than the Turks, sociologist Gevorg Poghosian said, citing the results of surveys conducted by sociologists in Armenia and Turkey in 2005. In response to the question about famous Turks and Armenians, Armenians named more than 70 Turks, from Abdul Hamid to Tarkan, whereas Turkish respondents only mentioned Aznavour. According to the majority of Turks surveyed, Armenia has a population of 7 million and land coasts of three seas. An attempt was made to reveal through surveys how the two peoples treat each other. In the words of G. Poghosian, the survey results show that the majority of Armenians and Turks (about 70%) believe that there will be no rapprochement between the two countries. "But now we see some progress, and there are hopes that diplomatic relations will be established, maybe the border will open, there are many maybes but we see that there has been some progress," G. Poghosian noted, adding that for that reason the sides show mutual interest in conducting new studies, in particular a survey will be done in October with the aim of finding out whether the change in Armenian-Turkish political relations has brought about changes in social moods. The director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the RA National Academy of Sciences, Turkologist Ruben Safrastian expressed an opinion that US-Turkish relations, which acquire a new quality against the background of mutual interests, may play a great role in Armenian-Turkish relations. In his opinion, the political platform of safety and stability will not become a real organization in the region, taking into account the current problems between Russia and Georgia, and those between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

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