Turkey must be kept away from Karabakh negotiations: Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey must be kept away from the Nagorno Karabakh negotiation process as much as possible, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan said in response to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s statement on the settlement.

Cavusoglu told a PACE session that in the event Armenia withdraws troops from at least five regions of Karabakh, Turkey would agree with any plan that is also beneficial to Azerbaijan.

The settlement is first and foremost aimed at clarifying the status of Karabakh, Kocharyan said, in accordance with the Karabakh people’s legally binding right to expression of will.

Addressing Cavusoglu’s statement on relations with Armenia, Kocharyan said that if Ankara really wanted to mend them, it would ratify and implement the Armenian-Turkish protocols signed in Zurich back in 2009.

Cavusoglu said nothing will pose a threat to the South Caucasus if the conflict is resolved.