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Turkey must drop preconditions for diplomatic relations - Armenia
By Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 1, 2005 Thursday
YEREVAN, September 1 -- Armenia is ready to establish diplomatic
relations with Turkey without any preliminary terms, the Armenian
president's press secretary, Viktor Sogomonian said on Thursday.
"Armenia's stand remains unchanged. We are ready to enter into a
constructive dialogue with Turkey at any time," he said, adding that
the two leaders discussed these issues in messages they exchanged
lately.
"Yerevan has a very positive vision of the ever-stronger dialogue
between Moscow and Ankara, and of their efforts to enhance cooperation
and security," Sogomonian said. "Relations between Russia and Armenia
have a strategic dimension to us. We believe that deeper cooperation
between Moscow and Ankara may prove a certain mediatory resource for
addressing our own issues," he said.
Armenia and Turkey have a 330-kilometer-long common border,
but no diplomatic relations. Ankara says it is ready to normalize
bilateral relations with Yerevan, if it stops demanding international
acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915
and curtails support for Nagorno-Karabakh in the smoldering conflict
with Azerbaijan.
By Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 1, 2005 Thursday
YEREVAN, September 1 -- Armenia is ready to establish diplomatic
relations with Turkey without any preliminary terms, the Armenian
president's press secretary, Viktor Sogomonian said on Thursday.
"Armenia's stand remains unchanged. We are ready to enter into a
constructive dialogue with Turkey at any time," he said, adding that
the two leaders discussed these issues in messages they exchanged
lately.
"Yerevan has a very positive vision of the ever-stronger dialogue
between Moscow and Ankara, and of their efforts to enhance cooperation
and security," Sogomonian said. "Relations between Russia and Armenia
have a strategic dimension to us. We believe that deeper cooperation
between Moscow and Ankara may prove a certain mediatory resource for
addressing our own issues," he said.
Armenia and Turkey have a 330-kilometer-long common border,
but no diplomatic relations. Ankara says it is ready to normalize
bilateral relations with Yerevan, if it stops demanding international
acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915
and curtails support for Nagorno-Karabakh in the smoldering conflict
with Azerbaijan.