Friday, April 24 2015 09:50

 "We are ready to embark upon a constructive dialogue with Turkey in case it faces its own history," president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with Hurriyet newspaper. 

Commenting on the Armenian-Turkish protocols that are still in the Turkish Parliament waiting for a politically expedient time for ratification Sargsyan said: "I will ask a rhetorical question: when the expedient time will arrive according to the Turkish standards? It has already been the sixth year since the protocols have been signed: when is the expedient time? On the part of Turkey this signifies lack of any basic respect not only towards the side that the protocols have been concluded with but also towards its international obligations. "

According to the president, the years behind have demonstrated that Turkey is looking forward not to some convenient moment, but instead is trying to prevent the manifestation of unambiguous position of the international community on the Armenian Genocide by imitating a process of the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement, claiming that recognitions were something that hindered the reconciliation.

 "The process of the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation was launched upon my initiative, and pursued a very simple goal - to establish diplomatic relations without any preconditions, and unseal the last closed border in Europe, safeguarding peaceful and neighborly coexistence of our nations.  Unfortunately, the lack of political will on the part of the Turkish authorities, distortion of the letter and spirit of the protocols, fresh manifestations of denial, and continuously brought up preconditions intended to feed groundless demands of Azerbaijan thwarted the implementation of the protocols.  Everyone is well-aware that it was Armenia that could have brought up some preconditions in the first place, but we have not resorted to it yet since we are guided by our vision of establishing an environment of cooperation in the region.

After six years of unfulfilled expectations I have decided to recall the protocols from the parliament. On one occasion I said that the Armenians are not going to wait indefinitely for the Turkish authorities to be able to find a convenient moment to finally ratify those protocols.

It was not Armenia that closed the Armenian-Turkish border, and it is not Armenia shutting the doors to the reconciliation. Unfortunately, the window of opportunity to arrive at historic reconciliation between our nations was missed because of the unconstructive Turkish policies.

We, however, are ready to embark upon a constructive dialogue with Turkey in case it faces its own history, heeds to the calls of the international community, and guided itself by the vision of creating a peaceful future for the Armenian and Turkish peoples," the president said.