Serzh Sargsyan: Armenia is ready to establish relations with Turkey, if the latter ripens for this

ArmInfo. Today, the meeting of the National Security Council was held at the residence of the President of Armenia. The key issue on the agenda was the termination of the process of ratification of the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation protocols.

In his speech, President Serzh Sargsyan noted in particular: "When I initiated the process of signing the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation protocols without preconditions, I was guided by the desire to form a stable and secure future for the region." Armenia has done its utmost not to leave a burden of reconciliation with Turkey on the shoulders of future generations. However, for 9 years constantly putting forward preconditions Ankara not only did nothing in the direction of ratification of these protocols, but its policy left no room for doubt that In 2017, from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly, I announced that if Ankara does nothing in the direction of ratifying these documents, we will meet the spring of 2018 without them. "It's time to take a decision."

The President also stressed that Armenia, initiating this process, realized that it would not be unequivocally perceived by the country's society and the Diaspora, for which the issue of the Genocide is especially painful. "Nevertheless, we took this step, realizing its necessity," the president said, stressing that Armenia does not put forward preconditions in relations with other countries, but will not tolerate doing it in its respect. "We are a small country that does not have a great military or economic potential, but we are an independent country, guided by our own interests," Sargsyan said.

Further, the president drew attention to two facts: "Firstly, the path we traveled was very useful, but we were perfectly aware of all possible options for the development of the situation, but felt that with any outcome we would benefit: it will come from the interests of two the international community will know that the absence of negotiations is not Armenia's fault, and today there is no international organization or country more or less involved in international processes that would not be aware of this. Regardless of that, we are deeply convinced that the establishment of Armenian-Turkish relations and their development is based on the interests of the two peoples, but one can not always run after interests if they are not realizable, but we are ready to establish relations with Turkey if it she will ripen for this, if she leaves or tomorrow she comes up with such an offer, we will discuss it, but before that, we will develop the way we did before-that is, without diplomatic relations with Turkey," the president summed up.

In turn, the members of the Council stated that Turkey did not take advantage of this opportunity, moreover, its preconditions not only did not help normalize relations with Armenia, but also aggravated the situation on the Karabakh settlement, promoting the radicalization of Baku's position. The participants of the meeting stated that in the current situation there is nothing else but to stop the process of ratifying the documents.

They also noticed that Armenia had more reasons to put forward Turkey's preconditions, but she chose the prospect of normalizing relations with neighbors. As a result, the Council unanimously adopted a decision on termination of the ratification process.

As a result of the decision, Serzh Sargsyan said that he would sign the relevant decree and asked the Foreign Minister to inform Ankara about this decision. He also informed that Armenia had already informed Armenia, France, the USA and Switzerland, as well as the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, thanking them for their assistance.