Armenian parliament speaker says he hopes his visit to Ankara would help both countries move towards normalization

YEREVAN, May 5. /ARKA/. Armenian National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan held a closed-door 20-minute meeting with Turkish Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop on the sidelines of the 61st General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) in Ankara, the press service of the Armenian parliament reported.

It said touching upon Turkey's recent closure of the airspace for Armenian airlines, Simonyan expressed regret and also hope that the meeting would help solve that problem.

Sentop said Turkey had closed its airspace for the aircrafts of Armenian airlines in retaliation to the opening of a monument in Yerevan last week dedicated to Nemesis operation.

'The opening of this monument has created a serious disturbance in Turkey. I think that we look at this issue as a very sensitive issue,' Sentop was quoted by Anadolu news agency as saying.

Operation Nemesis was the code-name for a covert operation in 1920s to assassinate the Turkish masterminds of the Armenian Genocide. 

After the end of World War I, the Ottoman military tribunal condemned to death the principal Young Turk leaders responsible for planning and execution of the Armenian Genocide. The perpetrators fled to European capitals living under assumed names

Simonyan said that Armenia approaches relations with Turkey in a "constructive" way and that there will be many obstacles and difficulties on this path, 'but we have to go through them so that we can reach a conclusion." 

Simonyan said also that Armenia attaches particular importance to the opening of the Armenian-Turkish land border for the citizens of third countries visiting Armenia and Turkey and those who have diplomatic passports. He expressed regret that he was not able to cross the land border with his diplomatic passport to attend the event.

"Despite the differences in the positions of Armenia and Turkey on a number of issues, we hope that this meeting will serve as a basis for the establishment of the Armenian-Turkish parliamentary dialogue and help build the foundations to ensure its consistency," the Armenian parliamentary head said.

Sentop said that the signing of a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan as soon as possible is of great importance for comprehensive normalization in the region, adding: "Such a development will start a new period of opportunity and cooperation for our region, and Armenia will also benefit from it like all the countries in the region." -0-