Armenia not to sacrifice Karabakh for normalizing ties with Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - Should Turkey attempt to advance Karabakh settlement issue once again, proposing it as a precondition for Armenian-Turkish rapprochement, Armenia may suspend the current process between Yerevan and Ankara, Eurointegration NGO's chair Karen Bekaryan told today a news conference in Yerevan, answering a PanARMENIAN.Net correspondent's question and commenting upon Turkish Ambassador Hulusi Kilic's recent statement. "Armenian side has all grounds to suspend Armenian-Turkish process, as international community and superpowers have many a time denied possibility of linking Karabakh issue with Armenian-Turkish rapprochement," Armenian expert noted.



Turkey is not party to Karabakh conflict, hence the issue is none of its business, Bekaryan finds. Besides, if Turkey is so concerned about Azeri refugees, why doesn't it remember that many people over many centuries became refugees on its own territory? "So many times we have noticed Turkey intervene in the process and make statements about Karabakh. For many years, Turkey has been the hostage of "one nation two states" policy," the speaker stressed, expressing conviction that Armenia will never sacrifice Karabakh for opening border and establishing diplomatic ties with Turkey."



"No authorities in Armenia will negotiate with Turkey over Karabakh conflict. Current pause in Karabakh peace talks coincided with the recent halt in Armenian-Turkish process. But it's quite possible that it was done by mediators on purpose to rule out any links between two processes," expert stated.



In an interview to a local TV channel, Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Hulusi Kilic made the following statement, "Progress in Karabakh settlement process may also lead to breakthrough in Turkish-Armenian relations which are in frozen state. However, they are expected to record certain progress in the nearest future. And such progress is related to Nagorno Karabakh," Turkish diplomat said.