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ANKARA: Sarksyan Rejects Preconditions In Turkey Talks

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  • ANKARA: Sarksyan Rejects Preconditions In Turkey Talks

    SARKSYAN REJECTS PRECONDITIONS IN TURKEY TALKS

    Today's Zaman
    July 31 2009
    Turkey

    Armenia has put aside its historical grievances and worked in goodwill
    for reconciliation with Turkey and now expects Turkey to put aside
    preconditions to advance peace talks, Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan
    has said.

    Sarksyan, speaking to a group of Armenian students from Russia,
    Egypt, Georgia, Ukraine and Turkey, said his country has exerted
    its best efforts despite the "Armenian genocide" to normalize
    relations with neighboring Turkey, an Armenian news report said on
    Friday. He complained that Armenia's goodwill was not reciprocated
    by Turkey, which now appears to want to use the progress made to
    normalize relations with Armenia to advance efforts to resolve the
    Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

    "Within past years we conducted negotiations, signed two documents,
    still, some Turkish officials decided to set preconditions and link
    Armenian-Turkish relations with [the Nagorno-Karabakh] issue," Sarksyan
    was quoted as saying by the PanARMENIAN news portal. "We can't accept
    preconditions ... Turkey has to understand no preconditions should
    be set in [the] 21st century, as preconditions lead to counteraction."

    Turkey and Armenia reported progress in their talks to restore
    their relations in April and said they reached an agreement on a
    road map on how to normalize their ties. But the process has become
    complicated since then, as Azerbaijan, a close ally of Turkey,
    protested the Turkish-Armenian talks. In a subsequent visit to Baku,
    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan assured Azerbaijan that Turkey will
    not open its borders with Armenia, which have been closed since 1993,
    unless Armenia withdraws from Nagorno-Karabakh, a region occupied by
    Armenian forces in a 1991 war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Earlier
    this week, Sarksyan said he would not visit Turkey to watch a World
    Cup qualifying game between national soccer teams of the two countries
    in September if the border is still closed.

    Responding to Sarksyan, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said
    on Wednesday that the government was still committed to normalizing
    relations with Armenia. "But at the same time, it is important for
    us to see the same determination from the international community,
    and especially from Armenia, on the conflict between Armenia and
    Azerbaijan," he added.
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