NALBANDIAN SAID THE ARMENIAN-TURKISH THAW AND THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH NEGOTIATIONS WERE ‘TWO SEPARATE PROCESSES.’
ArmInfo
2009-11-02 16:40:00
ArmInfo. Armenia’s foreign minister has rejected Turkish calls for
concessions in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in exchange for the
historic rapprochement between Yerevan and Ankara. The minister made
this statement in an interview with Reuters.
Speaking to Reuters late on Friday, Edward Nalbandian said negotiations
between Turkey and Armenia were over and both sides were obliged to
move quickly to establish diplomatic relations and open their border
under accords signed this month.
Turkish leaders say they want to see progress in negotiations between
Armenia and Turkish ally Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh before
parliament in Ankara ratifies the accords, a link Armenia rejects.
"Why did we sign two protocols if we are not going to ratify and
implement them?" Nalbandian, 53, said in an interview in the Armenian
capital, Yerevan.
"I think the whole international community is waiting for quick
ratification and implementation and respect for the agreements which
are in the protocols," he said, speaking in English.
"If one of the sides will delay and create some obstacles in the way
of ratification and implementation, I think it could bear all the
responsibility for the negative consequences."
Nalbandian said the Armenian-Turkish thaw and the Nagorno-Karabakh
negotiations were "two separate processes." There is a "positive
dynamic", he said. "But to say that tomorrow or in one month’s time
or in a very short period of time we will come to the agreement,
I don’t think this is very serious."