Economic Times, India
April 27 2008

Armenian PM welcomes Turkish dialogue request
27 Apr, 2008, 2205 hrs IST, PTI

YEREVAN: Armenia is ready to start dialogue with Turkey on improving
relations if Ankara does not set preconditions to talks, Armenia’s new
prime minister said on Sunday.

The two neighbours have no diplomatic links after Ankara severed ties
in protest against Armenian control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region
over which Armenia fought Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan in a war in the
early 1990s.

"I confirm the readiness of the government of Armenia to engage in
constructive dialogue and establish relations without preconditions,"
the press office of the Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarksyan said
he wrote in a letter to Turkey.

An Armenian backed administration controls the Nagorno-Karabakh
region. Armenia and Azerbaijan are still officially at war over the
mountainous area.

Last week Turkey’s foreign minister said he had sent Armenia a letter
calling for dialogue. Armenia is a mainly Christian state of around 3
million which lies on the edge of the Caucasus which hosts a pipeline
pumping oil to Europe from Asia. Armenia also accuses Turkey of
genocide during violence at the end of World War One.

Turkey denies the accusations and says that both Christian Armenians
and Muslim Turks died in fighting. "I assure you that our efforts will
be aimed at ensuring peace, tolerance and stability in our region,"
Sarksyan told Turkey in the letter. Sarksyan took over as prime
minister earlier this month. He had previously been central bank
chief.