“The day after the Armenian-Turkish Protocols were signed, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Turkey will not adopt a positive approach or open the border unless Armenia withdraws its troops from the ‘occupied’ Azerbaijani territory, and that further steps will be even more difficult without progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process” said Richard Giragosian, the director of The Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS). He added that Armenia should take adequate diplomatic steps against Turkey’s threats.

“We should not spend extra money and energy to celebrate Yerevan’s day, as Armenia has to take a strong position in relations with Turkey. Serzh Sargsyan should clarify his position and threaten he will not visit Bursa if Turkey keeps on making threats,” Giragosian said.

According to him, this tactics worked once when RA President stated he would not visit Turkey unless there was progress in Armenian-Turkish relations. “The President should not go to Bursa, especially because the Protocols are already signed, should he? At least he should threaten that he would not go to silence Turkey’s provocation,” the ACNIS director said.
“We should always keep on blaming Turkey, if Sargsyan does not visit Bursa, it will be Turkey’s guilt.”
According to Giragosian, “Armenia will have to pass Turkey’s tests in future and our country should be ready to give response.”