Epress.am News from Armenia
In the absence of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey, some in the international community accused Armenia, based on the fact that Armenians only live in the past, that yes, there was a genocide, and that Armenians place genocide recognition as a precondition. This issue has created some difficulties, said Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in an interview with Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio.
According to him, a negative outcome would prove that it is not so, that in fact, Armenia’s leadership and Armenians have found the strength to normalize relations with Turkey without preconditions.
“And then, whether it turned out or not, that’s another minor issue. That is, I want to say, from the beginning, we had more moral, political and legal bases to put forth preconditions.
“But I repeat, we have found the strength to walk on a civilized path. Initially, everything seemed to develop favorably. We negotiated, there were specific plans, in these plans, there was no mention of any preconditions all all, about any kind of conditions. There were no question of general preconditions in any verbal discussions.
“But after the signing of the protocols, the Turks began to speak of preconditions (this was in March of last year). In early April, when US President Obama arrived in Istanbul, the Turkish prime minister began to speak of preconditions, making concessions in the Karabakh issue and other preconditions. That, of course, was unacceptable for us,” he said.
Asked whether it’s possible the two parties return to the table, Sargsyan said if would be possible to return to this issue only if Turkey ratifies the protocols without any preconditions.
“We’re not ready for new negotiations or making changes to these protocols,” assured the president.
According to Sargsyan, even now, when the ball is in Turkey’s court, Armenia’s neighboring country is trying to interfere in the Karabakh process, speaking about its role as a regional leader, about neo-Ottomanism.
“The leader in the region can be the state that has no problems with other countries. But the policy that the Turks have adopted, the policy of zero problems with neighbors, just boils down to finding solutions that would suit the Turks and Turkey. That just doesn’t happen. We — I’m talking about Armenia — understand everything, we understand that Turkey is a large state, that Turkish economy has greatly increased in recent years, that Turkey is a G20 member, all this we understand. But this does not mean that they can dictate whatever they want to us or guide us in any issue. They are not our mentor,” concluded Sargsyan.