Yerevan insists on settling Armenia-Turkey relations with no preconditions

YEREVAN, December 13. /ARKA/. Armenia’s foreign minister Edward Nalbandyan said again at his meeting with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoghlu in Yerevan Thursday the bilateral relations should be settled without preconditions, the press office of Armenian foreign ministry reported.

The meeting was held as part of the session of Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in the Armenian capital.

The ministers talked about future programs and current activities of the organization.

Armenian foreign minister had bilateral meetings with heads of other countries’ delegations as well.

In particular, Nalbandyan discussed implementation of agreements reached during the recent visit of Russia’s Putin to Armenia with deputy foreign minister of Russia Vasily Nebenzey.

Issues related to Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union have also been discussed.

There are currently no diplomatic relations established between Turkey and Armenia: official Ankara closed the border in 1993. The uneasy relationship between the countries is caused particularly by Ankara’s support to Azerbaijan on Karabakh problem and Turkey’s overreaction to international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Empire.

Some reconciliation in the relations started in autumn 2008 initiated by Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan. Foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey signed protocols about establishing diplomatic relations in Zurich on October 10 2009 to be ratified by the parliaments. On April 22 2010 Armenia’s president Sargsyan suspended the ratification process saying Turkey was not ready to continue the process. Ratification of the protocols has been frozen. –0—