One of the world's most embittered and longest standing rivalries is on its way to being dissolved in favor of diplomatic ties: Armenia and Turkey agreed last week to begin talks that will likely result in a diplomatic relationship in six weeks' time. While the effort bodes well for Turkey's reputation in the eyes of European political hotshots who've been trying to block its EU entrance, it probably won't be enough.

Turkey has been desperately seeking entrance into the European Union for over twenty years, encountering endless obstacles and opposition from European leaders, France's Nicolas Sarkozy among the loudest naysayers. But Turkey has beefed up its self-improvement efforts in recent months, culminating in last week's talks with Armenia. A solid relationship with Armenia will shore up regional stability, and opening up the Armenian-Turkish border will provide economic opportunities.

While a diplomatic agreement with Armenia certainly won't hurt Turkey's chance to join the EU, it's unlikely that it will be the tipping point. Talks with Armenia have skirted around the issue of Armenian genocide, a sore point that Turkey still refuses acknowledge or take real responsibility for -- and one of the primary causes of bad relations between the two nations.

Sarkozy, who is staunchly against Turkey's EU bid, admitted that, "Normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey would constitute an event of historic import that would contribute to regional stability," but won't speak to what it means for Turkey's entrance. Which probably signifies that the agreements don't mean much to him. A Turkish-Armenian alliance is nice, but it doesn't do much to change the fact that Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim, poor and has its own set of internal conflicts -- of of which the EU will continue to see as negative.