According to the leader of the Heritage party and the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, Raffi Hovannisian, the price for the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations is the de jure border, the illegal agreements between Kars and Moscow. Raffi Hovannisian spoke about this at a press conference at Sputnik Armenia Multimedia Press Center on February 4.
“We have a problem with the genocide, the solution of the issues of statelessness, and the restoration of the rights of the Armenian people. But I do not connect it with the establishment of diplomatic relations. After so much loss and pain, our government was in favor of establishing diplomatic relations without preconditions. The establishment of diplomatic relations must take place. Let the embassies be opened, let the divisive issues be discussed and resolved over the years, but let no one just say it is the Soviet border or genocide, the international recognition is 110 years. This war will become ten years from one and a half centuries, then Shushi, Hadrut will become a hundred years, one day someone will have to say, a hundred years have passed since this war…
What is their price? It is the de jure border and the illegal agreements between Kars and Moscow. It is their fault in history, it is their becoming a modern democratic, European country, it is their confrontation with history, it is their becoming a developed, leading state. I do not have to give them the solutions. What is the price? I’m not their moralist. I imagine that Armenia-Turkey communication is possible without preconditions. I do not think that this government, with the rhetoric I have heard over the last two months, is capable of carrying out this dialogue on an equal footing,” said the Heritage party leader and first Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Raffi Hovannisian.
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According to him, our authorities talk about relations without preconditions, but Turkey actually sets preconditions. He clarified, “The fact that Turkey has published a roadmap or announced a roadmap that speaks of a corridor already suggests that it has its preconditions. The fact that Turkey says we are leaving without preconditions does not mean that these are relations without preconditions.” According to Raffi Hovannisian, “relations without preconditions” means that they are now exchanging diplomatic notes, they say that we are establishing diplomatic relations without preconditions, and Turkey unilaterally opens the closed border.
“The rest is communication, which has always been ‘welcomed by everyone.’ But if they are related to the Artsakh issue, whether it is a corridor, a border, or the recognition of the border, these are already preconditions, which are unacceptable.” On this issue, the first Foreign Minister of Armenia stressed that we must understand that Armenia-Turkey relations are an ontological, national security issue for us, not a patriotic, aesthetic issue.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
