Yerevan: Turkey has nothing to do in Karabakh peace process   

ArmInfo. Turkey has nothing to do in the Karabakh peace process, Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov has told ArmInfo, when commenting on Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's statement that the Karabakh conflict settlement agenda allegedly includes an issue of  "withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupies Azerbaijani territories, particularly from 5 districts".   

"The Armenian side has occupied no territories. In this matter,  Turkey has messed up the card, forgetting about the occupation of  Northern Cyprus and laying the blame on others. Turkey occupied  Cyprus, while the Caucasus Turks occupied Getashen, Martunashen,  Shahumyan and other Armenian districts," he says.   

He stresses that Cavusoglu's statement once again demonstrates that  Ankara is not prepared to normalize the Armenian-Turkish relations  without any preconditions. "Such an approach, like the blockade  imposed on Armenia by Turkey," he says.  

For his part, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan  has told Public TV that first and foremost, the settlement of  Nagorno-Karabakh problem is aimed at determining the final status of  Nagorno- Karabakh through the legally binding expression of will of  the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. "Another attempt of the Foreign  Minister of Turkey to distort the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation  process proves once again what we have been emphasized on numerous  occasions that Turkey should be kept away from the settlement process  as far as possible," he says. 

Regarding the Turkish Foreign Minister's statement on the  normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations, Kocharyan says that  if Ankara really wanted to normalize relations with Armenia, it would  have ratified and implemented the Armenian-Turkish protocols signed  back in 2009 in Zurich.

To recall, Mevlut Cavusoglu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the  Republic of Turkey, stated at the autumn plenary session of the  Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) that Turkey  has exerted sincere efforts for peaceful settlement of  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "The Minsk Group and Russia are making  efforts for the settlement of the conflict. The issue of withdrawing  Armenian Armed Forces' troops from the occupied Azerbaijani  territories, particularly from the 5 districts has been on the agenda  recently. Russia has shared these efforts with us, and so did we.   It's because we support any solution that is in Azerbaijan's  interests", the Turkish minister noted. At the same time, the Turkish  Minister touched upon the Armenian-Turkish relations and stressed  that Ankara seeks to mend the relations with Armenia. The FM added  that Turkey has also tried to normalize bilateral ties with Armenia,  signing an agreement in Switzerland (Zurich protocols in 2009 -  editor's note), however the process failed.