Though normalization efforts between estranged neighbors Turkey and Armenia have stalled, Turkey will be among the NATO and partner countries taking part in an exercise to be held in Armenia by NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center (EADRCC), writes Turkish Today’s Zaman newspaper.

The paper quotes Foreign Ministry officials based in Ankara as confirming media report that Turkey will participate in a disaster response exercise called “Armenia 2010.” The exercise, organized by the EADRCC as a consequence management field exercise, will take place between Sept. 11 and 17 in Armenia.

“For the exercise, the border between Turkey and Armenia may be opened ‘temporarily’,” writes Today’s Zaman, quoting Turkish diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“During technical discussions at NATO headquarters in Brussels a while ago, when such a possibility was raised by NATO officials, the Turkish side responded favorably,” diplomatic sources said.

The paper says it is still in question whether the border is physically suitable for the conduct of the exercise. But it quotes the same diplomatic sources as highlighting that “nonetheless, whatever the scenario is and however the border will be used, for instance for the crossing of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid, the border will be closed again upon the end of the exercises.”

Turkey shut its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity with its close ally, Azerbaijan, which was suffering heavy defeats in the war against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Yerevan and Ankara came close to mending fences in late 2009 after two protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations and the development of bilateral relations between the two estranged neighbors were signed in Switzerland, with hopes that the border would be opened upon their ratification in the two countries’ legislatures.

The parliamentary ratifications of the protocols, however, stalled earlier this year after the sides had accused each other of imposing conditions for the process to be completed.

While neither country has withdrawn its signature from the protocols, the future of the document and the prospect of the border opening remain bleak.