YEREVAN. – It is very difficult to separate and settle only trade contacts within Armenian-Turkish relations, head of the Turkish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC), MP Ismail Safi said in response to the Armenian News-NEWS.am question.

“Our relations depend on how successful we can manage to settle economic issues. We make every effort to settle the issue through economic organizations,” Safi said.

In his turn, head of the Armenian delegation Areg Ghukasyan said that they have run quite long talks with Turkish partners on the issue. He also added the position of the Armenian side, claiming that Armenia has already signed the protocols and now it is for Turkey to make some moves.

Besides being political documents, protocols also contain economic component – opening of borders and free trade, Ghukasyan added.

In October 2009 Armenia and Turkey signed protocols in Zurich to normalize diplomatic relations between the states. The documents had to be ratified in both countries’ parliaments.

However, in 2010 the Armenian president suspended the process due to Turkey’s non-constructive stance. Ankara set preconditions and linked the reconciliation process to resolution of the Karabakh conflict. Finally, Turkey decided to remove the protocols from parliament’s agenda.