news.am, Armenia
Dec 19 2009

Edward Nalbandian: Armenia wanted to improve relations with Turkey

20:29 / 12/19/2009Armenia wanted to improve its relations with the
neighboring state and received an adequate response, RA Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian stated at his meeting with Turkish
journalists. He said that it was Yerevan’s initiative though some
Turkish newspapers claimed it to be a Turkish one.

`It was not so. It was the Armenian President that sent an invitation
to an Armenia-Turkey football match to his Turkish counterpart. After
hesitating for a rather long time, the Turkish side accepted the
invitation. That gave a start to the negotiations. They have been most
intensive. One word often took hours and days, but we arrived at an
agreement early this February. Whose blame is it that the initialing
process was protracted as long as until April? I am not naming anyone,
it is up to you to draw conclusions. After being initialed, the
protocols were signed on October 10. Why? Whose blame it was? You
yourself answer the question. The entire international community is of
unanimous opinion that the protocols must be ratified as soon as
possible, within a reasonable timeframe and without any
preconditions,’ the Minister said.

Minister Nalbandian stressed that all the nations, except for
Azerbaijan, welcomed the process. He is sure that the Armenian-Turkish
reconciliation will only be beneficial for the entire region, and
Azerbaijan is part of the region. `It is not aimed against any other
nation. We are not alone saying it. Numerous political figures stated
that the process is not aimed against any other nation. On the
contrary, all of them are interested in this process because it can be
beneficial not only for Armenia, but also for Turkey and for the other
states of the region. If we were unable to find a solution in the 20th
century, let us find it at least in the 21st century,’ Nalbandian
said.

`No doubt, dependence is an obstacle. One thing is a bilateral
agreement, quite another thing is a multilateral international
agreement. Have you ever heard about a precondition set by Armenia? Of
course, you have not. It is obvious that preconditions, dependence,
reservations impede the process. It is not Armenia, or
Nagorno-Karabakh, that makes bellicose statements before each
top-level meeting to show that the negotiations have failed or to
thwart the Armenia-Turkey reconciliation,’ Nalbandian said.

T.P.