Football diplomacy “has died”, Arman Melikyan says

PanARMENIAN.Net - Arman Melikyan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arstakh Republic doesn’t think that the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Armenia can help Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, as the football diplomacy “has died”.

“The failure of Armenian-Turkish rapprochement attempt made RA understand that a precise strategy should be developed prior to launch of a similar process,” Melikyan told journalists on July 2.

“Turkey is coming forth with new initiatives, including closer ties with Russia and integration into the Islamic world, the latter proved by the incident with the Gaza-bound flotilla,” he said, adding that Ankara’s aspiration to take a leading position in the Islamic world is pregnant with grave consequences, specifically clashes with Kurds which can transform into a local war.