ARMENIA DENIES NEW ‘ROAD-MAP’ IN TURKEY RELATIONS
RIA Novosti
May 21, 2010 Friday 1:04 PM GMT+3
Russia
There is no new road-map for Armenian-Turkish rapprochement, the
Armenian foreign minister said on Friday.
"This is false information," Eduard Nalbandyan told a news conference.
News about a new road-map appeared after a high-ranking official from
Armenia’s ruling Justice and Development party’s said on Thursday
in Washington that Armenia and Turkey would not comment on their
relations as there was a new document on the agenda to be discussed.
Relations between Armenia and Turkey took a major step forward on
October 10, 2009 when Nalbandyan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Devutoglu signed protocols on establishing diplomatic relations and
developing bilateral relations.
The documents, signed in Switzerland, have to be ratified by both
countries to come into force.
But in April 2010 Armenian President Serzh Sargysan signed a decree
putting a hold on the ratification saying Turkey was not ready to
continue the reconciliation process.
The Armenian-Turkish border was closed in 1993 on Ankara’s initiative.
Bilateral relations between the countries are complicated by Turkey’s
support of Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over Nagorny
Karabakh and differing positions on the killings of ethnic Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire during World War One.