Turkey is willing to work for the normalization of relations with Armenia pending the neighbouring country’s abandonment of single-sided accusations and embrace of a realistic outlook, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday.

Neighbourly relations based on trust, respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty despite differences in opinions and expectations, would be a “responsible way to act’’ for Ankara and Yerevan, the Independent Turkish cited Erdoğan as telling reporters on a flight back from a weekend tour in the Balkans.

The region needs “new, constructive approaches” and Ankara is ready to  ready to gradually develop relations with Armenia, the Turkish leader said, if the country is ready to take steps for “sustainable peace and coexistence.’’

Erdoğan also congratulated Armenia for its newly established government, expressing hope that the new government would be beneficial to the region.

Armenia's acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was officially appointed to the post earlier this month by the country's president after Pashinyan's party won an early parliamentary election in June, following months of protests demanding his resignation because of a November peace deal he signed to end six weeks of fighting with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Erdoğan’s remarks arrive after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Friday that Turkey had been sending “positive signals” to his country and that Yerevan will respond in kind, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Diplomatic ties between Turkey and Armenia are officially non-existent and have historically been hostile.Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in response to what it called Armenian aggression in Karabakh.