Armenian president and U.S. Secretary of state discuss bilateral relations

YEREVAN, August 21, /ARKA/. During a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton late on August 20 Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan discussed bilateral Armenian-U.S. relations, the press office of the Armenian president said in a statement. It said the conversation was initiated by the American side.

“During the telephone conversations president Sargsyan and secretary of state Clinton discussed bilateral as well as regional issues, particularly, the Armenian-Turkish dialogue,’ the statement said.

Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations. In 1993 Turkey closed the border with Armenia in a sign of solidarity with Azerbaijan. There are several sensitive issues complicating the establishment of normal relations between the two countries, particularly, Ankara’s blatant support of Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution process and Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge the mass killings of Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire as a genocide.

The thaw in the strained relations began in 2008 September after Turkish president Abdullah Gul arrived in Armenia, at his counterpart’s invitation, to watch together with Serzh Sargsyan the 2010 World Cup qualifying football game between the two countries’ national teams. During that visit the two presidents discussed prospects for engaging in dialogue and normalization of relations.  -0-