Edward Nalbandyan: if precondition related to Karabakh existed, Armenian-Turkish process wouldn’t be launched

YEREVAN, December 21. /ARKA/. Improvement of Armenian-Turkish relations would not be started, if Karabakh-related pre-condition was put forward, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan said Friday at his meeting with Turkish journalists.

“It seems people in Turkey mistakably think that there are some parallel processes. If precondition related to Karabakh existed, the process (Armenian-Turkish relationship improvement) wouldn’t be launched,” he said adding that the sides took this step realizing very well that there is no connection with Karabakh.

“Armenia has no less ground for putting forward preconditions, but we can’t improve relations with such a tune,” Nalbandyan said. “We wanted to improve our relations with this neighboring country and we received a relevant reply from Turkey.”

The minister stressed that the initiative to improve relations came from Armenian side and negotiations began after Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan at his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan’s invitation.

Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Artsakh, mainly populated by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.

On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority of the population (99.89%) voted for secession from Azerbaijan.

Afterwards, large-scale military operations began. As a result, Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions adjacent to it.

On May 12, 1994 Bishkek cease-fire agreement, put an end to the military operations.

Since 1992, talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group are being held over peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is co-chaired by USA, Russia and France.

On October 10, Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers – Edward Nalbandyan and Ahmet Davutoglu – signed the protocols on establishment of diplomatic ties and development of bilateral relations.

The protocols will be sent to the two countries’ parliaments for ratification. After ratification the countries will be able to open their border.

There are no diplomatic ties between Armenia and Turkey now. Armenian-Turkish border has been closed since 1993 on Ankara’s initiative.

Turkey has set a number of pre-conditions for improving bilateral relations.

Ankara demanded Armenia to stop seeking worldwide recognition of Armenian genocide fact.-0--