Only one in two Armenians want to have an open border with neighboring Turkey, according to a European Union-funded opinion poll that was presented in Yerevan on Tuesday.

The Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), a U.S. non-governmental organization specializing in the South Caucasus, also found that 82 percent of them distrust Turkey.

The CRRC publicized these findings more than four months after asking about 1,200 people across Armenia a wide range of questions relating to Turkish-Armenian relations. The survey was part of an EU project to promote direct contacts between the Turkish and Armenian civil societies.

In particular, the CRRC inquired about Armenians’ attitudes toward a possible opening of the Turkish-Armenian border which Turkey keeps closed because of the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It emerged that 51 percent of respondents supportand 33 percent oppose such a prospect, with the remaining 16 percent undecided.

The CRRC found only slightly stronger support for an open border among residents of the Armenian provinces bordering Turkey.

Turkey completely sealed the border in 1993, at the height of the Karabakh war, out of solidarity with Azerbaijan. Successive Turkish governments have since made its reopening conditional on a settlement of the Karabakh conflict acceptable to Baku.

The authorities in Yerevan have always rejected this precondition, saying that the Turkish blockade of Armenia violates international law.

Economists generally agree that an open border with Turkey would be good for the Armenian economy. Just how substantial and quick thatimpact would be is a matter of contention.

Some Armenian political groups say that cross-border commerce would actually hurt local manufacturers and farmers. They also claim that Armenia could become dangerously dependent on its historical foe.

Armenian public opinion gauged by the CRRC appears to reflect these conflicting attitudes. According to the poll, 57 percent of Armenians believe that a border opening would have a positive impact on the domestic economy. At the same time, nearly half of them feel that it would damage Armenia’s national security.

Also, 82 percent of those polled agreed with the notion that Turkey “cannot be trusted.”