Armenia says ready to establish ties with Turkey without preconditions

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia is ready to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without preconditions, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

Pashinyan said the borders between Armenia and Turkey were closed not on Yerevan’s initiative, but on Ankara’s.

In fact, he said “that border is open from the Armenian side."

According to him, it’s Turkey that should make a decision to open the border.

Ankara and Yerevan have no diplomatic ties and the border between the two countries is shut, with the relationship shadowed by the Genocide of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

Former President Serzh Sargsyan in March 2018 formally ditched agreements signed between the two countries in 2009, which would have normalised relations after Ankara failed to ratify them.

Turkey on May 11 said it was ready to consider any offer by new Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan for a "new page" in relations after the protest leader said he was prepared to open diplomatic ties without preconditions.