RA Security Council Secretary meets former Turkish President

ArmInfo. On April 22, Armen Grigoryan, Secretary of the Armenian Security Council, met with the 11th President of Turkey, Abdullah Gul.

According to the Security Council press service, the meeting took  place as part of the Delphic Economic Forum. During the meeting, the  parties exchanged views on matters of mutual interest.

Let us recall that it was under Abdullah Gül in 2008 that contacts between Armenia and Turkey began within the framework of the so-called "football diplomacy." The Turkish President accepted the invitation of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to attend a match in Yerevan. This became the first visit of the Turkish head of state to independent Armenia. Serzh Sargsyan's return visit (October 14, 2009). The Armenian President attended the return match in the Turkish city of Bursa. A direct consequence of this process was the signing of the "Protocols on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations" and the "Protocols on the Development of Bilateral Relations" in October 2009. Despite the initial optimism of the international community, the process effectively reached an impasse: the parliaments of both countries never ratified the protocols. Under pressure from Azerbaijan, Turkey linked the normalization of relations to the Karabakh issue, which was unacceptable for the Armenian side.