Whether new Turkish president to travel to Armenia on next April 24 depends on outcome of presidential race

YEREVAN, June 18. /ARKA/. Whether the new president of Turkey will travel to Armenia on the next April 24, when Armenians all over the world will mark the centenary of the Armenian Genocide, depends on the outcome of the presidential election in Turkey, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with Armenian Public Television.   

Sargsyan, speaking on May 27 at the fourth session of the state commission set up for coordinating events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the genocide, invited the future Turkish president to visit Armenia on April 24, 2015. 

In his televised interview, Sargsyan doubted that the current president, Abdullah Gul will have a chance to discuss the matter, since he has no intention to race for presidency.  

Sargsyan stressed that he highly appreciates Gul, since the latter is an intelligent politician who knows very well his country’s interests.   

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations; the border between the two countries was closed in 1993 by Ankara in solidarity with Azerbaijan. The thaw in relations between the two countries began from Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s visit to Yerevan on September 6, 2008. He came to Armenia at his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan’s invitation to attend a 2010 World Cup qualifier in Yerevan between Armenian and Turkish national teams.  

In 2009 October 10 Armenia and Turkey signed "Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations" and the "Protocol on the Development of Bilateral Relations" in Zurich, which were to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries. However, on 22 April 2010, the President of Armenia, seeing that Turkey was dragging its feet, signed a decree suspending the ratification of the protocols, stating that Turkey was not ready to continue the process. -0-----