ARMENIA NOT TO SACRIFICE KARABAKH FOR NORMALIZING TIES WITH TURKEY
PanARMENIAN.Net
25.08.2009 15:17 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Should Turkey attempt to advance Karabakh settlement
issue once again, proposing it as a precondition for Armenian-Turkish
rapprochement, Armenia may suspend the current process between Yerevan
and Ankara, Eurointegration NGO’s chair Karen Bekaryan told today a
news conference in Yerevan, answering a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent’s
question and commenting upon Turkish Ambassador Hulusi Kilic’s recent
statement. "Armenian side has all grounds to suspend Armenian-Turkish
process, as international community and superpowers have many a time
denied possibility of linking Karabakh issue with Armenian-Turkish
rapprochement," Armenian expert noted.
Turkey is not party to Karabakh conflict, hence the issue is none
of its business, Bekaryan finds. Besides, if Turkey is so concerned
about Azeri refugees, why doesn’t it remember that many people over
many centuries became refugees on its own territory? "So many times
we have noticed Turkey intervene in the process and make statements
about Karabakh. For many years, Turkey has been the hostage of
"one nation two states" policy," the speaker stressed, expressing
conviction that Armenia will never sacrifice Karabakh for opening
border and establishing diplomatic ties with Turkey."
"No authorities in Armenia will negotiate with Turkey over Karabakh
conflict. Current pause in Karabakh peace talks coincided with the
recent halt in Armenian-Turkish process. But it’s quite possible that
it was done by mediators on purpose to rule out any links between
two processes," expert stated.
In an interview to a local TV channel, Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan
Hulusi Kilic made the following statement, "Progress in Karabakh
settlement process may also lead to breakthrough in Turkish-Armenian
relations which are in frozen state. However, they are expected to
record certain progress in the nearest future. And such progress is
related to Nagorno Karabakh," Turkish diplomat said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress