Any delay in ratifying the Armenian-Turkish protocols is fraught with new political obstacles to this process, RA President Serzh Sargsyan told a news conference held jointly with his Latvian counterpart Valdis Zatlers.

He expressed hope that Turkey will not delay the ratification. Otherwise, it will call the long way passed by the two nations into question. The Armenian leader reaffirmed Armenia’s willingness to establish bilateral relations with Turkey without any preconditions.

President Serzh Sargsyan expressed his gratitude to all the states, institutions and political figures for their mediation in the Armenian-Turkish dialogue.

Specifically, the Armenian President expressed his appreciation of U.S. President Barack Obama’s role in the Armenia-Turkey normalization process. “Barack Obama has repeatedly stated his position on the Armenian Genocide, pointing out the necessity of Turkey’s admitting the Genocide and the unacceptability of her distorting her own history. Mr. Obama made such statements even in Turkish Parliament,” the Armenian leader said. Underlining Armenia’s readiness to ratify the protocols without any preconditions, Serzh Sargsyan stressed Armenia expects Turkey to do the same. The Armenian President pointed out that the Armenian-Turkish protocols have been submitted to the RA Constitutional Court to be considered on January 12, 2010.

At their meeting the Armenian and Latvian leaders discussed regional conflicts and stressed the need for peaceful solutions under international law. He thanked Latvia for its balance attitude to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

Speaking of the Armenian-Turkish dialogue, the Latvian President stressed that the improvement of bilateral relations will be beneficial for both nations. He also stressed that the establishment of Armenian-Turkish relations meets the interests of not only the two nations, region, but also of the entire international community.

T.P.