Significant potential mistrust remains between Armenian and Turkish societies. This opinion was expressed by the director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Doctor of Historical Sciences Ruben Safrastyan at the international conference “The dynamics of regional security in the South Caucasus” held in Yerevan. In his opinion, it is difficult to understand why Turkey has set requirements to Armenia prior to establishing normal diplomatic relations.

“None of Armenia’s governments put forth any prerequisites for Turkey. Most political parties in the country have similar or nearly similar opinion,” Safrastyan said.

As for the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, put forward by Turkey as a precondition, the process is developing in a known framework, through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group on the basis of the Madrid principles, for the most part adopted by Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“If we draw parallels, then, in my opinion, it is not quite correct to compare the Turkish-Armenian process with the Turkish-Greek and Turkish-Bulgarian ones. In last cases, normal diplomatic relations exist. Why not to do the same thing in this case as well, and then continue the rapprochement, which would include the general public?” the expert said.