When the Armenian government decided that the restrictions on the import of Turkish goods should be lifted, it was guided there by political considerations. The minister of economy, Vahan Kerobyan, on Wednesday told about this to reporters in the National Assembly of Armenia.

He noted that his ministry shall closely monitor and protect the companies that have opened in the past year due to restrictions on the import of Turkish goods.

"We have to see to it that their 'establishment' is not endangered and they do not have to ‘fly out’ of the [Armenian] market again. We will follow the situation. And if we see that there are problems, the businesses of those investors are endangered and they are not well established enough to compete with the importers of Turkish goods, then we will definitely introduce some programs to protect them," added the economy minister.

Kerobyan stressed that he personally supported the extension of this ban, and said that it was possible to extend the ban on the import of Turkish goods, but since the Armenian government is a collegial body, they made such a decision together.

Commenting on the recent provocations of Azerbaijan, the minister of economy said that it should be taken into account that such clashes have always taken place in the last 30 years, but Armenia was open for Turkish goods during those years.

Vahan Kerobyan added that the Armenian government is doing its best to ensure that there are no casualties and that peace is established on acceptable terms for Armenia so that they can think about long-term work and investment.