Armenpress News Agency, Armenia
 Saturday


Sargsyan cites Turkey's lack of political will as chief impediment for
establishing relations



YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Armenia does not resort to the
language of preconditions, but equally, Armenia shall never accept
preconditions put forth by anyone, President Serzh Sargsyan said in
remarks delivered at the Munich Security Conference during a panel
discussion titled In or Out? The Countries In Between Russia and
Europe.

The President said that during the Cold War Armenia was on the border
of one of the two rival blocks. “Thirty years have passed since the
fall of the Berlin wall, but Turkey still continues to keep the border
with Armenia closed. It seems that the clock stopped ticking there.

I am convinced that Armenia has taken all the possible measures in
order to overcome that impasse. I initiated a process of normalization
of the relations between Armenia and Turkey, which could have created
new opportunities for both of our nations and the region at large.

Nevertheless, the Protocols that Armenia and Turkey had signed back in
2009 remained on the paper. Turkey not only failed to ratify these
documents, but also came up with preconditions that had no connection
whatsoever with the Protocols. It was nothing but a failure to take
advantage of the historic opportunity.

Is Azerbaijan preventing Turkey from establishing relations with
Armenia, as many are trying to convince us? No, it is not the case.
The chief impediment is the lack of political will on the part of the
Turkish leadership. I believe you may be aware that many
representatives of the Armenian diaspora were not too happy about that
decision of ours. It was natural, as they were successors of survivors
of the Genocide and of homeland dispossession. I travelled around the
globe back then, met with our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora,
community after community, and discussed with them this very sensitive
issue.

Have the Turkish leaders displayed such political will? Have they been
faithful to the commitments they had signed up to?

We cannot wait eternally for Turkey's response. The Protocols were
negotiated under the existing circumstances. If Turkey desires to
await other circumstances and only then to ratify the Protocols, then
it is profoundly mistaken. Under potential new circumstances, a new
document is to be negotiated. Armenia does not resort to the language
of preconditions, but equally, Armenia shall never accept
preconditions put forth by anyone”, the Armenian President said.