ArmInfo."In our time, within the framework of football diplomacy, the ball thrown by us remained on the Turkish field," the third President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan told reporters, commenting on the question of how football diplomacy differs during his presidency from the current one.
According to Sargsyan, during the period of the country's leadership by the current authorities, Turkish "Bayraktars" appeared on Armenian lands. <The difference is precisely in this>, the third President of the Republic of Armenia stressed. He noted that he does not know what the settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations will give Armenia. "During our governance, the main goal in the relations with Turkey was to ensure the security of Armenia and to keep Turkey away from any assistance to Azerbaijan, rather than opening the roads or economic ties. When you make a decision, you calculate the possible benefits and losses. But even with a negative result, we have received quite serious benefits in our time, since the international community has become convinced that it is not because of us that negotiations are not underway >, Serzh Sargsyan said.
As for the results of the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, Serzh Sargsyan noted that everything depends on what is the subject of negotiations. <Do you even know what they're negotiating about? It is often repeated that negotiations are conducted without any preconditions, but who knows about it>, the third President of the Republic of Armenia emphasized.
It should be noted that the process of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations is currently underway, however, the start of this process was actually started in October 2009 with the signing in Zurich of two documents - the "protocol on the establishment of diplomatic relations" and the "protocol on the development of bilateral relations" between Armenia and Turkey.
At that time, many experts assessed this process as the beginning of a large geopolitical process, which was based on the "football diplomacy" of then President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who invited Turkish President Abdullah Gul to Yerevan for a football match with the Turkish national team. However, the process was frozen due to Turkey's refusal to ratify both protocols, which led to the withdrawal of these documents from the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia. Today in Yerevan, the meeting of the two teams will take place within the framework of the Euro-2004 qualifying round, and the expert community considers this an opportunity to return the "football diplomacy" process.