YEREVAN, ANKARA AGREE TO SETTLE RELATIONS WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS

Interfax
May 8 2009
Russia

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah
Gul have agreed to settle bilateral relations without preliminary
conditions, the Armenian presidential press service told Interfax
on Friday.

"The Armenian and Turkish presidents assessed the Prague meeting
positively. An agreement to respect all earlier reached agreements and
to advance on the track of settling Armenian-Turkish relations without
preconditions and within reasonable time frameworks was reached,"
the press service said.

This was the second meeting between the Armenian and Turkish
presidents, which was attended by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, the press
service said.

There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey, while
the state border between the two countries was closed in 1993 at
Turkey’s initiative.

On September 6, 2008 the Turkish president for the first time
visited Yerevan at the invitation of the Armenian president. The two
presidents then attended a soccer game between the Armenian and the
Turkish national team as part of a qualifying round for the 2010 World
Cup. The Armenian president returned a visit to Turkey in October 2009.