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YEREVAN. - Two circumstances hinder the normalization of ties between Armenia and Turkey.

Armenian Deputy FM Shavarsh Kocharyan said the aforementioned in an interview with Die Tagespost German newspaper, noting that Turkey fully backs Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

“Two circumstances hinder the normalization of ties between Armenia and Turkey. The first one is Turkey’s denial policy with respect to the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire, the second being Turkey’s policy of keeping Armenia in blockade in support of Azerbaijan. Thus, the Armenian-Turkish border is the only closed border in Europe,” he noted.

According to Kocharyan, upon the initiative of Armenia and with the support of mediator states, the protocols on normalizing the Turkish-Armenian relations were drafted and signed in Zurich in 2009. The protocols were aimed at the gradual normalization of relations between the two states without preconditions.

“But by advancing preconditions related to the Armenian Genocide denial and by coming up with pro-Azerbaijani demands in Karabakh issue, the Turkish authorities broke down the ratification of the protocols. Consequently, supporting Azerbaijan, Turkey continues to keep Armenia in blockade and continues to further toughen the already deconstructive position of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process. For its part, Azerbaijan is even more violently denying the fact of the Armenian Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire.

This is due to the circumstance that in response to the exercise of the Nagorno-Karabakh people’s right to self-determination and by pogroms and ethnic cleansings against the Armenian population in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad and other settlements, Azerbaijan proved that it is the successor of the genocidal policy ran against Armenians,” the Deputy FM noted.

In his words, in that context it is no coincidence that the Azerbaijani leader has announced the entire Armenian nation as No. 1 enemy for its country, glorifying and awarding the criminals who kill Armenians, something that happened in case of the killer who axed to death the sleeping Armenian officer during the NATO drills in Budapest and one who beheaded a captured Armenian soldier during the April aggression.

''The ratification of the Turkish-Armenian protocols together with abandoning denial in the issue of the Armenian Genocide was a check on Turkey's true preparation for its integration to Europe and adoption of the European system of values. It is no coincidence that the failure of that exam coincided with Turkey's recession from the European path,'' Kocharyan concluded. 

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This text available in   Հայերեն and Русский
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