Serzh Sargsyan confirms Armenia’s willingness to establish relations
with Turkey without preconditions

2008-08-23 21:13:00

ArmInfo. Armenia is willing to establish relations with Turkey without
any preconditions, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in his
interview with the Austrian newspaper "Der Standard" when replying to
the question whether Turkey’s leadership is open for a dialogue with
Armenia in the light of official Ankara’s silence regarding Armenia’s
proposal to establish diplomatic relations without any preconditions,
as well as regarding the invitation to A.Gul to come to Yerevan and see
the Armenia-Turkey football match.

"Today our relations face a situation from which nobody benefits. On
the contrary, a lot of people suffer. I am sure that it is senseless to
be eternal rivals. We have an apparent necessity to solve the problem
of improving the relations, and both the Turkish and Armenian societies
will benefit from this step. I remember that Turkish Prime Minister
R.Erdogan noted several months ago that in the doors are open for a new
dialogue", the president said. Sargsyan expressed confidence that the
dialogue may be established and President Gul’s visit will consolidate
these positive tendencies. "Several days ago my Turkish counterpart
stated that he has no enemies in the region. I am sure that specific
and efficient steps towards improvement of the relations between our
countries will become the confirmation of this statement. We may face
various problems, however, they can’t be solved if a dialogue at the
level of civilized countries is failed, and if our states lack relevant
relations", Sargsyan said.