President of France Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed the Armenia-Turkey announcement on a “start of internal political consultations” made under Swiss mediation that concerns signing of the “Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Armenia and Turkey” and the “Protocol on Development of their bilateral Relations”.

“Normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey would constitute an event of historic importance that would contribute to regional stability,” Sarkozy declared.

Sarkozy opposes Turkey's entry into the EU. Late Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office issued a statement saying France encourages Turkey and Armenia to “redouble their efforts so they can quickly sign an accord which will be an historic event and contribute to stability in the region.”

As NEWS.am has informed earlier, late on August 31, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Ministries of Armenia and Turkey issued a press releases which says: “The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey have agreed to start their internal political consultations on two protocols – the ‘Protocol on the establishment of diplomatic relations’ and the ‘Protocol on the development of bilateral relations’ – which have been initiated in the course of their efforts under Swiss mediation.

The political consultations will be completed within six weeks, following which the two Protocols will be signed and submitted to the respective Parliaments for the ratification on each side,” the document reads.