Yesterday when Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian apparently cancelled his trip to Turkey where he was to attend the Alliance of Civilizations forum, speculation surfaced that it indicated a breakdown in recent Armenia-Turkey dialogue on normalizing relations.

It turned out, however, that the foreign minister rescheduled his trip for today (Monday) and should be in Turkey as of this posting.

Earlier, on April 2, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced unexpectedly that the Turkish-Armenian border will not be deployed until the Karabakh conflict has been settled.

The comment appeared to be in response to forecasts – including a Wall Street Journal report – that an agreement on opening the Armenia-Turkey border is on the agenda for Turkish foreign minister’s April 16 visit to Yerevan.

Virtually all official and non-official comments and movements are in the regional spotlight since US President Barack Obama landed in Turkey Sunday night.

Tukey, in the presence of the leaders of the most influential countries, set a preliminary condition before Yerevan and tied in the prospect of developing bi-lateral relations with the issue of Armenia’s relations with a third party – Azerbaijan.

Immediately after the Turkish Prime Minister made this declaration in London, Armenia’s Foreign Minister Nalbandian replied:

“The settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations must take place without pre-conditions, and it is with this mutual understanding that we have been conducting negotiations with the Turkish side,” the Minister said. “The regulation of the relations between Armenia and Turkey is not related to the Karabakh issue, and this issue has never been a topic for discussion during the negotiations on normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations,. It has been said repeatedly and I would like to stress again that the settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations does not question the fact of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey.”

The minister also reminded that dozens of countries and international organizations have recognized the Armenian genocide as of today, and Armenia has welcomed the recognition. “I believe that announcements about pre-conditions for normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations may be viewed as an attempt to annul the progress that has been reached in the negotiation process,” Nalbandian continued.

All the rhetoric, visits and the subsequent attention drawn by having Obama in Ankara begs the question of whether a moment of truth is arriving now in terms of the prospects for bi-lateral relations. It is evident that the parties are bound to state their positions more distinctly and clearly.

The latest statement made by the Turkish Prime Minister and the Armenian minister’s reply are perceived against this very background. They differ from previous vague statements merely by their candor.

Adding to the speculation and potential for dramatic diplomacy was an announcement today by 1news.az news agency in Azerbaijan stating that an upcoming trip by Erdogan to Moscow is “to coordinate the agreement on opening the border with Armenia. The thing is that the agreement between Armenia and Turkey (as the latter has insisted) includes the issue of liberating five regions of Azerbaijan. The issue of Lachin and Kelbajar regions, as well as that of Nagorno Karabakh, will be discussed during the subsequent negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”

Official Yerevan has not commented on this announcement, but many questions should be cleared in the coming days following the current attention of Obama’s visit.