FM Mnatsakanyan presents Armenia's approaches in relations with Turkey
12:41,
YEREVAN, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan presented the approaches of Armenia in the relations with Turkey, ARMENPRESS reports Mnatsakanyan talked about the issue an interview with Public TV.
''Any step in politics should be the result of a cold-hearted and balanced calculation, and this is our guidlines for relations. Apart from the fact that we live under the conditions of denied justice, Turkey makes other steps that further deepen the issue – those steps include closed borders and unconditional support to Azerbaijan in Nagorno Karabakh conflict. All these factors together are a threat for us and we answer this threat in a way a state has to – we ensure our national security based on cold-hearted and balanced calculations’', Mnatsakanyan said.
The Armenian FM referred to the announcement of special adviser to the President of Turkey and the presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın, where he referred to the Armenian-Turkish protocols.
''Discussing this distorted interpretation, I think, does not even bring honor for us, because we know the story very well. Armenia made an investment as a state, which presented people that survived the genocide, by carrying that process to the end. And you may remeber very well that it was a subject of very deep, difficult and popular debates. And what did we get by doing all that? We got that in reality Turkey just threw all that out of window. And this once again shows that this threat is deep-rooted. And those announcements just deepen the denialism, because denialism goes together with justification of genocide. All these together form impunity and threat'', the Minister said.
The Armenian-Turkish protocols on restoring diplomatic relations between the two countries without preconditions were initiated in 2008 and signed in 2009, but immediately after signing Turkey changed its position and conditioned the ratification of the protocols with the settlement of Nagorno karabakh conflict.
In 2010 Armenia suspended the ratification process of the protocols and in 2015 they were withdrawn from the National Assembly of Armenia.
On March 1, 2018 during the session of the National Security Council President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan announced terminating the process of ratifying the protocols “On Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey” and “On Development of Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey,” which were signed on October 10, 2009. President Serzh Sargsyan tasked the foreign minister to notify the Turkish side of Armenia’s decision.
Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan, Editing and translating by Tigran Sirekanyan