ACCORDING TO BORIS TADIC, VISIT OF SERBIAN DELEGATION TO ARMENIA REPRESENTS NEW BEGINNING OF FRIENDLY RELATIONS

Noyan Tapan
July 28, 2009

YEREVAN, JULY 28, NOYAN TAPAN. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
will accept the invitation of Turkish President Abdullah Gul only in
case of the fulfilment of the agreements reached and the visibility
of real steps. "That is, I will leave for Turkey if we have an open
border or we are on the threshold of lifting Armenia’s blockade,"
he stated in the July 28 statement for the mass media during the
two-day visit of Serbian President Boris Tadic to Armenia.

According to S. Sargsyan, he told his Serbian counterpart about
the developments that followed his initiative aimed at normalizing
the Armenian-Turkish relations, as well as about the details of the
current stage. "You know that little time remains till the return
match of the national football teams of Armenia and Turkey, and I
received an invitation to attend this match from Turkish President
Mr. Gul. Under the current conditions, we certainly expect to witness
constructive steps soon, by which our partners will try to ensure a
respective environment for the return visit of the Armenian president,"
S. Sargsyan said.

Speaking about the Armenian-Serbian relations, he noted that his
tete-a-tete talk with the Serbian president passed in a constructive
atmosphere of mutual understanding, during which they discussed the
current state and prospects of relations between the two countries
and exchanged opinions about a number of issues of international and
regional importance and the cooperation in international organizations.

"The promotion of the political dialog, the establishment and
strengthening of interparliamentary links, the development of trade and
economic relations between Armenia and Serbia are essential elements of
our relations based on partnership," S. Sargsyan said. In his words,
he together with the Serbian president came to the same conclusion
that the regional conflicts should be settled without the use of
force, peacefully and through negotiations, based on the principles
and norms of international law. "We are convinced of the absence of
universal forms of conflict resolution. Each conflict has its origin,
motivations and process. Without taking them into consideration,
it is impossible to find a fair and stable solution," he added.

S. Sargsyan said that the Armenian and Serbian peoples have maintained
friendly relations with each other over the centuries. Serbia was a
country to receive open-heartedly numerous Armenians who had survived
the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, in particular, the Izmir
massacres in 1922.

"Our people also remember with gratitude the material and moral
help of the friendly Serbian people following the 1988 destructive
earthquake. We will always revere the memory of the Serbian pilots
bringing humanitarian aid to Armenia, who died in the name of a high
goal, when lending a helping hand to the friendly people at a fatal
moment," S. Sargsyan said.

Boris Tadic in his turn declared that only a peaceful policy such as
the policy conducted by the Serbs in the Balkans and that conducted
by the Armenians in the Caucasus can bring a lasting peace to the
two peoples. He called the visit of the Serbian delegation to Armenia
"a new beginning of the friendly relations" and invited his Armenian
counterpart to pay a visit to Serbia.

On the first day of his two-day visit, Boris Tadic went to the Memorial
Complex of the Armenian Genocide Victims.