Turkish delegate Yildirim Tugrul Turkes during the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) winter session asked Serzh Sargsyan, President of Armenia, whether the Republic of Armenia is not going to take steps regarding the Armenian-Turkish relations, after the presidential election in March. The President of the Republic of Armenia replied: “We do not quite well understand the Turkish side’s demand for taking steps. After my election I initiated the publicization of the Armenian-Turkish negotiations, and, as a result, meetings took place between the President of Turkey and me. Before the start of negotiations and the documents, as an outcome of the negotiations, clearly, state that these relations should be established without preconditions. Meanwhile, after signing the protocols, the Turkish side tries to impose preconditions. We have not seen such an example in international practice. All conditions should be negotiated before the signing of the document. After that, morality demands to fulfill the requirements of that document. Nine years later, the Turkish side proposes to take some steps. We can never accept any preconditions. Yes, Turkey is a powerful state and has a huge potential, Armenia’s potential cannot be compared to it, but that does not mean that Turkey should speak from the position of its power. If so, there are many more powerful countries that need to talk to it from the position of power”.
Serzh Sargsyan stated that by spring Armenia will announce the Armenian-Turkish protocols void. He further noted that it would be right for Turkey to abandon its policy of supporting Azerbaijan in order to maintain fragile stability in the region. Serzh Sargsyan reminded that in 2016 Turkey was the only country in the world that supported the military operations of Azerbaijan.
Summing up Serzh Sargsyan noted: “It will be humiliating for our people to go for one-sided concessions to establish relations under such conditions”.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
