Pashinyan speaks on his stance on relations with Turkey and Karabakh conflict

ARKA, Armenia
Nov 1 2018

YEREVAN, November 1. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan unveiled today his position on the Armenian-Turkish relations and the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, when speaking at an extraordinary session of the parliament.

Pashinyan said the borders of two of Armenia’s four neighboring countries, Turkey and Azerbaijan, are closed and the borders with the other two –Iran and Georgia – are partially closed. Regarding Iran, he said the border with it may be closed because of geopolitical developments and that with Georgia because of weather conditions.

“It turns out that Armenia is an island without a sea and this largely explains some of our foreign policy approaches. As for Armenia, it is ready to establish relations with Turkey without preconditions,” said Pashinyan.

According to Pashinyan, Armenia’s desire to establish relations with Turkey in no way belittles the issue of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire, since this is a matter of international security.

He said Armenia is ready to open borders with Turkey without preconditions, moreover, from the Armenian side it is not closed. It is Turkey that closed its border because of the Karabakh conflict.

"If someone believes that they can force Armenia to one or another Karabakh settlement option they are wrong. We are ready for negotiations, but we will never make a step under pressure and coercion. On the contrary, we will strengthen, unite and achieve our national goals," said Pashinyan. 

Armenian former President Serzh Sargsyan declared on March 1 the Armenian-Turkish protocols void and null.  In 2009, on October 10, Armenia and Turkey signed "Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations" and the "Protocol on the Development of Bilateral Relations" in Zurich which were to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries. 

However, on 22 April 2010, the president of Armenia signed a decree suspending the ratification of the protocols, stating that Turkey was not ready to continue the process, since it became known that the protocols had been automatically removed from the Turkish parliament’s agenda. 

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations; the border between the two countries was closed in 1993 by Ankara in solidarity with Azerbaijan.  Relations between Armenia and Turkey remain tense because of Ankara’s biased stance on Karabakh problem and its painful reaction to Armenia’s efforts to obtain worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide, committed by the Ottoman Turkey during World War I. -0-