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Armenian leader dismisses preconditions for ties with Turkey

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  • Armenian leader dismisses preconditions for ties with Turkey

    Armenian leader dismisses preconditions for ties with Turkey

    20:3703/10/2009

    YEREVAN, October 3 (RIA Novosti) - Armenia's president has ruled out
    any preconditions for reestablishing ties with Turkey, the Armenian
    presidential press service said on Saturday.

    Armenia and Turkey reached an agreement early in September to start
    "political consultations" on reestablishing diplomatic relations and
    reopening borders. The negotiations were mediated by Switzerland. The
    two countries agreed to a "roadmap" to normalize their relations under
    Swiss mediation this April.

    "Those protocols are just the first step towards the resumption of
    Armenian-Turkish ties... Their purpose is to pave the way for a
    complicated yet necessary process of reestablishing ties, doing so with
    dignity as civilized 21st century countries should," Serzh Sargsyan
    said at a meeting in Paris with representatives of the Armenian
    community in Europe late on Friday.

    Some members of the Armenian community abroad have been opposing the
    signing of bilateral protocols. The Armenian community abroad,
    especially in the United States, Russia and France, is a very powerful
    force influencing the making of national decisions in Armenia.

    Sargsyan assured his compatriots abroad that Armenia would not take a
    step that would run counter to all-Armenian interests.

    "Our strategic and long-range goals are the same, and the resumption of
    Armenian-Turkish ties does not close the doors along that path, but
    opens up new opportunities," the Armenian president said.

    Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support for
    Muslim ally Azerbaijan, following a bloody conflict over Nagorny
    Karabakh between the two ex-Soviet republics. Ankara has also demanded
    that Yerevan drop its campaign to have the mass killings of Armenians
    by Ottoman Turks in 1915 internationally recognized as genocide.

    Sargsyan said with confidence that the reestablishment of ties of
    Turkey did not mean doubting the act of genocide against Armenians.

    "The genocide against Armenians does not need to be proved, and Turkish
    authorities will sooner or later be forced to take into account the
    committed crime and pain of the descendants of 1.5 million of victims,"
    Sargsyan said.

    The Armenian president is expected to travel to Turkey on October 14 to
    attend a return football match. Last September, Turkish President
    Abdullah Gul came to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, to watch a
    football match between the two countries in their qualifying group for
    the 2010 World Cup.
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