ARMENIA-TURKEY DEAL HAS NO PRECONDITIONS ON KARABAKH – LEADER

Mediamax
Sept 1 2009
Armenia

Yerevan, 1 September: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan presented
major directions of the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations in Yerevan today.

Addressing a meeting of the heads of Armenia’s diplomatic missions
[abroad] and the Foreign Ministry’s officials today in Yerevan,
Sargsyan said that a joint statement of Armenia and Turkey was
adopted and texts of the agreed documents, namely "Protocol on the
establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries" and
"Protocol on the development of bilateral relations" were published
on 31 August, the Mediamax news agency reports.

"As I have said on many occasions, our talks with Turkey and
the agreements achieved do not contain preconditions concerning
the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. As we said, historical
issues of Armenian-Turkish relations must be discussed not by a
commission of historians but in the framework of a sub-commission of
an intergovernmental commission. For the first time in the history of
independent Armenia, public discussions will precede the signing of the
most important international document. They [the discussions] will make
it possible to hear all opinions and approaches," the president said.