Sargsyan congratulates Erdogan on his election as Turkish president

YEREVAN, August 13. /ARKA/. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has congratulated Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his election as Turkish president, the Armenian president’s press office reported on Wednesday. 

In his message, Sargsyan expressed hope that Erdogan will make whatever he can to put the agreements reached between the two nations into reality. 

He wished sound health to his newly elected Turkeish counterpart and prosperity and progress to the Turkish people. 

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 the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

Thaw in Armenian-Turkish relations began in 2008 on Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s initiative.  

On October 10, Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers signed the protocols on establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries and development of bilateral relations. The protocols had to be ratified by the two countries’ parliaments, but on April 22, 2010, the Armenian president, seeing that 

Turkey was dragging its feet, signed a decree ceasing the process of ratification. He said Turkey was not ready to continue the process.  --0----