Friday, December 19 2014

The
USA wants to go on stimulating reconciliation of the Armenian and Turkish
peoples as much as it can, US Ambassador to Armenia, John Heffern, said at
today's farewell press-conference in Yerevan.

 

He said that he was disappointed with signing of the
Armenian-Turkish Protocols, although the former US Ambassador to Armenia, Marie
Yovanovitch, was inspired with them. Former US Secretary of State, Hillary
Clinton, was also involved in the process and drew great attention at it. We
hoped that the protocols will finally make it possible to open the border and
establish diplomatic relations, but failed, as there was no progress, the
ambassador said.  At the same time, he
added that the USA welcomed the bold step of the president of Armenia for
normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations.

 

US ambassador said that US Department of State  and US Embassy in Armenia will go on taking
efforts to assist reconciliation of the peoples of Armenia and Turkey.

 

To remind, the Armenian and Turkish Foreign Ministers
signed the Armenian-Turkish Protocols in Zurich on October 10, 2009. The
protocols were to be ratified by the two countries' parliaments.  However, on 7 Dec 2009 Turkey laid down a
number of preconditions, connecting the Armenian-Turkish normalization process
with the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. On 22 April 2010, Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan suspended the ratification process but did not remove the
protocols from the Armenian Parliament's agenda. A number of high-ranking
international officials have blamed Turkey for having wrecked the rapprochement
process.  The Armenian-Turkish protocols
may shortly be removed from the Armenian Parliament's agenda, Armenian
President Serzh Sargsyan said at the 5th Armenia-Diaspora Forum on 20 September
2014.