FOREIGN MINISTRY: ARMENIA WILLING TO START DIALOGUE WITH TURKEY

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 30 2007

YEREVAN, March 29. /ÀÐÊÀ/. Armenia wants to start a dialogue with
Turkey over the past and the future, Armenian Foreign Ministry’s
Acting Spokesman Vladimir Karapetyan said Thursday in a statement
placed on the ministry’s website.

"Armenia and Armenians want to enter a serious dialogue with Turkey
over our painful past and common future with our neighbors", he said.

"We don’t want to be involved in endless game of gestures, which
pursues propagandist goals and shifts international community’s
attention from real problems instead of seeking reconciliation",
Karapetyan added.

In his words, Armenia urges international community to persuade Turkey
to open borders and establish normal relations with Armenia.

Diplomatic ties between Armenia and Turkey are not established so
far. Armenian-Turkish border closed in 1993 on Ankara’s initiative.

Turkey puts forward a number of preconditions. In particular, Turkish
leadership demands Armenia to stop seeking international recognition of
Armenian Genocide fact and to make some concessions on confrontation.

Yerevan has repeatedly said that Armenia is willing to establish
diplomatic ties with Turkey without preconditions.

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