It is difficult o come to agreement with Turkey: Nalbandian

YEREVAN, May 4. /ARKA/. It is extremely difficult to come to an agreement with Turkey, Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian said on Friday during a joint news conference with visiting Uruguayan counterpart Luis Almagro.

In comments on a statement by Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu about problems in Ankara’s relations with three neighbors, especially with Armenia, Edward Nalbandian said that Turkish foreign minister  is not sincere as the number of such countries is  larger.

"With two of its six neighbors Turkey does not have relations at all. In fact, Turkey’s policy of zero problems with neighbors has failed," he added.

Turkey and Armenia have had no diplomatic ties since Armenia became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support for its ally, Azerbaijan, which had a dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian enclave of Azerbaijan. 

There are several sensitive issues complicating the establishment of normal relations between the two countries, particularly, Ankara’s blatant support of Azerbaijan in 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. 

In 2009 Armenia and Turkey signed two protocols in Zurich committing to establish diplomatic relation and open the Turkish-Armenian border. But the Turkish government made clear that it will not ensure the protocols' ratification by Turkey's parliament before a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict acceptable to Baku. Yerevan rejects this linkage, saying that it contradicts the letter and the spirit of the agreements. Citing the Turkish precondition, president Serzh Sarkisian suspended the process of Armenian parliamentary ratification of the protocols in April 2009. But he stopped short of formally annulling them. -0-