ArmInfo. Official Yerevan is skeptical about the positive trends in the normalization of theArmenian-Turkish relations in the foreseeable future.
For example, the press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan said at a briefing on July 2 whether the progress in the relations between Armenia and Turkey could be expected, said that the rhetoric sounding from Ankara does not inspire optimism on this issue. According to him, proceeding from the aforesaid, no further progress is expected in the foreseeable future.
Answering the question whether Armenia will congratulate the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan on winning the election, Balayan noted that until 2014 Yerevan and Ankara formally exchanged mutual congratulations in connection with official holidays and important dates, however, after the coming to power of Erdogan, and this practice ceased.
Turkey unilaterally broke off diplomatic relations with Armenia and closed the border in 1993, officially saying this is "the occupation of Azerbaijani regions by Armenian troops." The Turkish government promises to open the border on condition that Armenia ceases to seek international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and withdraws troops from the conflict zone in Nagorno-Karabakh. In 2009, the third president of Armenia initiated a process to normalize relations with Turkey without prejudice. In this regard, in Zurich on October 10, 2009, the Armenian-Turkish protocols were signed. However, the protocols were never ratified by the parliaments of Armenia and Turkey, since Ankara constantly put forward preconditions for ratification. In this connection, the process of ratification of the protocols in the Armenian parliament was frozen by order of the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. And in February 2015 they were withdrawn from parliament. Even later, on March 1, 2018, Sargsyan announced their denunciation, arguing that there was no positive shift in their implementation.