Armenian Foreign Minister spoke on the likelihood of normalization of  relations with Turkey

ArmInfo.To achieve peace in the South Caucasus, Ankara needs to win the trust of not only Armenia, but also the international community. Armenian Foreign  Minister Ara Aivazian stated this on December 7 at a press conference  following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Thus, to the journalist's request to assess the words of his Turkish  counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu that the agreements on Karabakh can help  improve the Armenian-Turkish relations after three decades of  tension, Aivazian stressed that he was not going to comment on the  words of the Turkish Foreign Minister, but would only remind about  the actions of the Turkish side.

 "I'll start with the tragedy of 100 years ago - the Armenian  Genocide and I want to remind you that the vast majority of Armenians  in the Republic of Armenia and the Diaspora are direct descendants of  people who survived the first genocide of the 20th century. We have a  historical memory," he said, reminding that from the first days of  independence the authorities of the Republic of Armenia expressed a  sincere desire to establish good-neighborly relations with  neighboring Turkey without preconditions.  "In response, since 1993,  we have witnessed a blockade that continues to this day, a refusal to  establish diplomatic relations and a sharply aggressive approach to  Armenia over this entire 30-year period. In 2008- 2009, the process  of so-called" football diplomacy "began, which Armenia initiated to  normalize relations, ended with the signing of the Zurich agreements.  However, they remained on paper, and Turkey once again refused to  fulfill its obligations, using various political subtexts. Just  recently, on April 24 when Armenia and Armenians worldwide honored  the memory of the innocent victims of the first genocide in the  Ottoman Empire, the President of Turkey made a provocative statement  in which, in fact, he justified the annihilation of Armenians. This  once again confirms Ankara's unpreparedness to normalize relations  with Armenia, "the RA FM said.

At the same time, he stated with regret that since the beginning of  the events in July, when an aggravation occurred on the northern  border of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey began to openly threaten the  Republic of Armenia through the lips of the President, Minister of  Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defense. "This was reflected in the  participation of Turkey in the aggression against Artsakh on  September 27, 2020. I have already noted that Turkey played a key  role in fomenting the war against Artsakh, threatened directly the  Republic of Armenia and played an extremely negative role throughout  this period, imported terrorist militants and took a direct part, in  particular, took command of the military operation, undermined the  agreements on the establishment of a truce three times, and each time  these agreements were neutralized precisely by the negative role of  Ankara, "Aivazian said.  "According to him, such a vision of the new  South Caucasus, of course, is shared in Yerevan, and we want to live  in peace, stability and interaction with all our neighbors. "We will  see what measures Ankara will take to restore not only Armenia, but  also the international community's trust. And only after that we will  assess how sincere his words about a new era in the South Caucasus  region are," Aivazian said, stressing that in order to achieve this,  Ankara needs to gain the trust that has been lost during all this  time.