“Turkish side is informed, and we are confident that they realize, that we exclude the conditioning of the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations by the steps towards the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” said RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan commenting on Turkish Foreign Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Sept. 18 statement on Armenia-Turkey reconciliation, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Armenian Diaspora. “Trying to link those two processes, could ruin both,” Nalbandyan declared.

“Number of countries, including those Co-Chairing OSCE Minsk Group expressed the same position. They stated repeatedly that the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations must be without preconditions. With this mutual understanding we have started and conducted negotiations and came to agreements, reflected in the initialed protocols,” Armenian Foreign Minister said.

“If Turkish authorities have problems with the signing of documents, they should not try to solve them by distorting the spirit, essence and goals of the initialed documents,” underlined Nalbandyan. “The signing and implementation of agreed documents is a difficult process. Nevertheless, Armenia is ready to respect the agreements and go forward,” he stressed.

“If the authorities of current Turkey are not ready today to recognize the fact of Genocide perpetrated in Ottoman Empire, they are at least obliged to respect the survivors of Armenian Genocide and their descendants,” he pointed out.

As NEWS.am has earlier informed, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan touched upon Armenian-Turkish relations amid other issues at Ramadan dinner with the participation of Turkish media representatives, Turkish Milliyet daily reports. “We will not open the border unless Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict is settled, like we already said. Aliyev-Medvedev-Sargsyan meetings are currently more frequent. We are very close to Karabakh conflict settlement. OSCE Minsk Group activities should be intensified. Armenian-Turkish normalization process under Swiss mediation progresses, however MG should add urgency to its work. We will not take a step forward without Karabakh conflict settlement. It is necessary for Armenia to cut out Diaspora impact, as it is of no benefit for it,” Erdogan stated.