Serzh Sargsyan: I gladly accepted Abdullah Gul’s proposal on assistance
in settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations if necessary

2008-09-13 11:56:00

ArmInfo. ‘I gladly accepted the proposal of Abdullah Gul on assistance
in settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, if necessary’,
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said responding to journalists’
questions. He also said that both the Armenian and Turkish public have
already given a positive assessment to A. Gul’s visit to Armenia, and
the studies show that the overwhelming majority positively assessed
both the initiative and the visit of Mr. Gul to Armenia. ‘We had a goal
to settle the atmosphere, and I think that we achieved this goal’, RA
president said. He added that Mr. Gul mentioned during the negotiations
that there is a political will in Turkey today to consider the problems
existing between Armenia and Turkey. ‘I think it essential that
Turkey’s president did not stipulate his words by any other
circumstances, that is very important for us. I am also very glad that
A. Gul shared the impressions from our meeting with the Azerbaijani
president. I think it is very important for the atmosphere and spirit
of negotiations to be propagated. A. Gul also said during the meeting
that he is ready to assist in settlement of the Armenian- Azerbaijani
relations if necessary, and I gladly accepted it. Moreover, one should
differ assistance from mediation. I am sure: any step, which can assist
the Minsk Group cochairmen in solution of this problem, should be
assessed only positively. We also talked to Mr. Gul about another
initiative of Turkey, that is, creation of the Caucasian Platform. The
Turkish party said just from the beginning that this initiative is not
alternative to another structure or format but is aimed at improvement
of the atmosphere. I think that we should welcome this initiative. We
have no right to avoid any discussion, especially if it is aimed at
strengthening of our security. Only those who have nothing to say and
who have complexes evade from communication and talking. We have no
complexes. We live in this region and have neighbours. We have very
good relations with some of them. We had no relations with one of our
neighbours before Mr. Gul’s visit, and we have to recover and improve
the relations with another neighbour. In view of this, we must show an
initiative and take active part in any communication. We have something
to say. We do not set us up over or below anyone: we treat everybody
with respect and wish for anyone to treat us in the same way. I shall
just add: yesterday I received a letter from Mr. Gul where he very
highly evaluated our talk and negotiations, as well as a rather long
meeting of foreign ministers held upon completion of the football game.
I think it should mean something for us’, Serzh Sargsyan said, RA
president’s website reports.