Armenian leader calls for better ties with Turkey
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan called on Monday for closer ties with Turkey, 15 years after the two nations severed diplomatic relations over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, news wires reported.
Both Armenia and Turkey will gain from established relations, Sargsyan told at a press conference.Â
"Certainly, in both countries there are people who think the opposite but this does not mean that we must sit idly by," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.
"The important thing is that in relations between Armenia and Turkey a trend is taking shape for being ready to start a healthy discussion of the existing problems," he also said. Â
Contacts between Armenian and Turkish diplomatic circles never ceased and there is nothing sensational about Armenian and Turkish representatives meeting in Bern, Sargsyan added.
Turkish and Armenian officials held a series of secret meetings in the capital of Switzerland on July 8. This meeting Sargsyan's proposal for "a fresh start" with the goal of normalizing relations with Turkey and opening the border.
Sargsyan also invited Turkish President Abdullah Gul to watch a football match between the two country's national teams on Sept 6 to mark "a new symbolic start in the two countries' relations". Â
The Turkish president's visit to Armenia may have a positive effect on the discussion of the existing issues between our countries, Sargsyan told at Monday's conference.
"When it comes to a neighboring country, one does not speak about deadlines, one has to wait as long as it takes," he said when asked how long he is willing to wait for the Turkish president's reply to the invitation to visit Yerevan.
Turkish officials told last week the invitation has been evaluated and did not rule out accepting it since it would not be an official visit.
Turkey is among the first countries that recognized Armenia when it declared its independency. However there is no diplomatic relations between two countries, as Armenia presses the international community to admit the so-called "genocide" claims instead of accepting Turkey's call to investigate the allegations, and its invasion of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory despite U.N. Security Council resolutions on the issue.