I see a risk in not normalizing relations with Turkey. The chairman of the Bright Armenia Party (BAP), Edmon Marukyan, stated this to reporters at Yerablur Military Pantheon in Yerevan Friday—on the Army Day anniversary.

"That risk has already taken place. And if [then Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan's initiative [on normalizing relations with Turkey] had not been hindered in 2008 and that initiative had taken place, this war [i.e., the 44-day Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war in the fall of 2020] might not have happened this way. Therefore, in 2008 as well I had believed and supported the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations without preconditions. Today I am happy that after the [recent] first meeting of the envoys [of the two countries] there is a clear statement in the statement of the Turkish and Armenian Foreign Ministries that the talks have started without preconditions," Marukyan said.

To the remark that Azerbaijan is still firing on, attacking, and killing Armenians, Marukyan said that this is why relations should be normalized.

"Such a catastrophe happened to us [Armenians] because we did not use the chances given to us at the time, or we did not use [them] well, or we used [them], [but] did not work. Now we have a chance again to use it, to normalize relations. It is the non-normalization of relations that will lead to new wars, new conflicts, and new casualties in the future," the BAP leader added.

As for the fact that Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev sees the normalization of relations with Armenia in the context of Armenia recognizing Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and opening a corridor for Azerbaijan through Syunik Province of Armenia, Edmon Marukyan noted: "In Armenia, we discuss more what the Azerbaijani leader sees than what we see. The leader of Azerbaijan may ‘see’ a lot. And I see that Artsakh is an established factor, with its president, its flag, its coat of arms, its army. Security is maintained there through Russian peacekeepers."