EDWARD NALBANDYAN: IF PRECONDITION RELATED TO KARABAKH EXISTED, ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROCESS WOULDN’T BE LAUNCHED
/ARKA/
December 21, 2009
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, December 21. /ARKA/. Improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations
would not be started, if Karabakh-related pre-condition was put
forward, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan said Friday at
his meeting with Turkish journalists.
"It seems people in Turkey mistakably think that there are some
parallel processes. If precondition related to Karabakh existed,
the process (Armenian-Turkish relationship improvement) wouldn’t be
launched," he said adding that the sides took this step realizing
very well that there is no connection with Karabakh.
"Armenia has no less ground for putting forward preconditions, but
we can’t improve relations with such a tune," Nalbandyan said. "We
wanted to improve our relations with this neighboring country and we
received a relevant reply from Turkey."
The minister stressed that the initiative to improve relations came
from Armenian side and negotiations began after Turkish President
Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan at his Armenian counterpart Serzh
Sargsyan’s invitation.
Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Artsakh, mainly populated
by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.
On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority
of the population (99.89%) voted for secession from Azerbaijan.
Afterwards, large-scale military operations began. As a result,
Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions
adjacent to it.
On May 12, 1994 Bishkek cease-fire agreement, put an end to the
military operations.
Since 1992, talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group are being held over
peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is co-chaired by USA,
Russia and France.
On October 10, Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers – Edward
Nalbandyan and Ahmet Davutoglu – signed the protocols on establishment
of diplomatic ties and development of bilateral relations.
The protocols will be sent to the two countries’ parliaments for
ratification. After ratification the countries will be able to open
their border.
There are no diplomatic ties between Armenia and Turkey now.
Armenian-Turkish border has been closed since 1993 on Ankara’s
initiative.
Turkey has set a number of pre-conditions for improving bilateral
relations.
Ankara demanded Armenia to stop seeking worldwide recognition of
Armenian genocide fact.