Initialed Armenia-Turkey rapprochement Protocols contain no stipulations for NKR conflict settlement, depriving Ankara of a possibility to raise Karabakh issue within Armenia-Turkey negotiations' framework, Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) Director Richard Giragosian said at "Armenian-Turkish diplomacy and Nagorno Karabakh: Deal or no deal?" seminar.

"Washington, too, recognizes Armenia-Turkey rapprochement and NKR conflict settlement as two different processes. I believe, NKR conflict and Armenia-Turkey dialogue are interconnected, still it's important they're not directly linked," ACNIS Director noted, adding that Yerevan mustn't allow for NKR issue to be set as Armenia-Turkey rapprochement precondition.

He also stressed that despite Baku's statements, OSCE MG remains the only format for Karabakh conflict settlement and Turkey does not belong there.