Armenia ready to normalize Turkey ties without preconditions: FM

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia is always open to normalizing relations with Turkey without preconditions, foreign minister Edward Nalbandian told a joint press conference with his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias in Yerevan.

Nalbandian expressed hope that Turkey will one day take a similar stance and "respect agreements reached with other countries."

The minister reminded about the Armenian President’s readiness to normalize ties with Turkey, the latter, however, failing to ratify and implement the relevant protocols.

In September 2008, Abdullah Gül became the first Turkish head of state to visit Armenia after he accepted the invitation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to attend a FIFA World Cup qualifier football match between the Turkish and Armenian national football teams. An accord between Armenia and Turkey was signed by the foreign ministers of the two countries, Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward Nalbandyan, on October 10, 2009.

But the diplomatic efforts to normalize the relations initiated by Armenia eventually faltered. The ruling coalition decided to propose a suspension of the ratification process to the president after the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan announced multiple times that the Turkish ratification depended on a peace deal in Nagorno Karabakh conflict. On the same day President Sargsyan suspended the ratification process although announcing, that Armenia does not suspend the process of normalization of relationships with Turkey as a whole.