YEREVAN. – Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s participation in Thursday’s inauguration of Turkey’s President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a normal occurrence, Deputy FM Shavarsh Kocharyan told reporters.

To the query as to why this time Armenia decided to send a delegation to Turkey, Kocharyan responded that Turkey’s president was elected for the first time through a direct presidential general election, as he was previously elected by the country’s parliament.

And to the question as to whether Turkey has displayed an equivalent diplomatic etiquette towards Armenia, the Armenian deputy FM stated that Turkey had attended incumbent Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s inauguration, and at the level its ambassador to Georgia.

On August 13, Sargsyan had congratulated Erdogan on his presidential election victory.