ANKARA (PanArmenian.net)—Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated on Friday the pre-conditions Ankara has set forth for normalizing ties with Armenia.

 

Mevlut Cavusoglu, in an interview with Sabah, pointed out one of these conditions, saying, “To normalize ties with Ankara, Yerevan must cede Karabakh territories.”

Armenia’s President Serzh Sarkisian addressed a letter to the National Assembly speaker Galust Sahakyan on Feb. 16 requesting the recall of the Armenian-Turkish protocols from the parliament’s agenda, the protocols being the agreement that aimed to normalize relations between the two countries.

The presidential letter read: “At the outset of the process of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish ties without preconditions, we were in full realization of all possible scenarios. We were similarly ready for comprehensive rapprochement through ratification of the protocols and their failure. We had nothing to conceal, as it would become clear to the international community which party was guilty of missing the chance to open the last closed border in Europe.”

In his letter, the Armenian leader also criticized the Turkish leadership over absence of political will, distortion of the essence of the protocols and attempts to lay down conditions, as well as intensified policy of denial ahead of the Armenian Genocide centennial.

“I repeatedly stated that we don’t have unlimited time for ratification of protocols. I regret that the message was left unheard by the Turkish leadership,” Sarkisian concluded.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke about the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, and again pointed to preconditions.