DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: ARMENIA IS READY TO ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH TURKEY WITHOUT ANY PRECONDITIONS

ARKA
Aug 25, 2009

YEREVAN, August 25. / ARKA /. "Today, Armenia is ready to establish
diplomatic relations with Turkey without any preconditions, including
on the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict", – the deputy minister
said in an interview with radio station Ekho Moskvy.

Kocharian stated that unfortunately Turkey’s position on the question
of establishing relations with Armenia, manifested on the fact
that there the diplomatic relations with Armenia still have not
been established, and the Armenian-Turkish border has been closed
since 1993.

"These were steps aimed at supporting an ally of Azerbaijan, so that
Armenia would be blockaded, and that it was possible to eventually
force a decision.

Now that Turkey is ready to discuss the refusal of such an approach,
Turkey apparently realized, earlier than Azerbaijan that this
policy of isolating Armenia did not lead to the result they wanted,
" Kocharian said.

Armenia and Turkey do not have diplomatic relations and the
Armenian-Turkish border has been closed since 1993 on the initiative
of the official Ankara.

The complex relationship between the two countries is caused by
several factors related to, with Ankara’s support of Azerbaijan in the
Karabakh issue, as well as the acute reaction to Turkey’s process of
the international recognition of the 1915 Armenian Geno cide in the
Ottoman Empire.

The first advances in the relationship began on a September 6, 2008,
when Turkish President Abdullah Gul arrived in Yerevan for the first
time at the invitation of his Armenian counterpart Serj Sargsyan to
watch a football match between Armenia and Turkey in the World Cup
2010 qualification round.

During the visit, the two presidents discussed the possibility of
establishing relations.