YEREVAN (RFE/RL), April 15–At a meeting with the Armenian journalists in Washington, DC on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian summarized the results of the Washington meetings and questioned the willingness of Turkey to prevent the failure of the process of settling Armenian-Turkish relations.

Assessing the whole Washington visit of President Serge Sarkisian, Nalbandian said that the visit was important for strengthening the Armenian-American bilateral relations, as well as for discussing regional and international issues which concern the both sides.

According to him, Armenia and the US have lately had very close relations and a political dialog at a high level.

“President Sarkisian’s meetings with the President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave an opportunity to continue the constructive dialog and debate about Armenian-Turkish relations, as well as a solution to the Karabakh problem,” said Nalbandian.

Referring to the results of the meeting between the President Sarkisian and Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Nalbandian said that it gave the Armenian side an opportunity to see the position of Turkey more clearly, and again made sure that the estimates of official Yerevan concerning the latest developments around the resolution of Armenian-Turkish relations were correct.

“Our ideas and approaches that matured in recent years have strengthened. The president will inform the public about the appropriate decision when the time comes,” said Nalbandian.

Regarding the extent to which the Karabakh issue was discussed at the meeting, Nalbandian said that the Turkish side tried to expand the discussion on Karabakh, but the answer given was the same as usual: the settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations cannot be linked to the settlement of the Karabakh problem.

“I do not think there are any reasons for discussing the Karabakh conflict with Turkey. Rather, there are no such reasons. First of all Turkey cannot be a negotiator in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. Secondly, Armenia will never agree to any terms in the Karabakh problem for the sake of the settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations,” he said. The Minister added that the link of these two problems will damage both processes, and this opinion is also shared by the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group.

“If Turkey has made mistakes from the point of view of their abilities, it’s their problem. We started this process understanding that there can be no preconditions, continued it and came to the point of signing the Protocols. If today Turkey has shifted its ground, we must draw conclusions whether there are any partners with whom the process may be continued,” Nalbandian said.

According to him, if Turkey does not wish for the failure of this process, they should demonstrate their readiness to ratify Armenian-Turkish protocols and to settle their relations with Armenia without any preconditions. This is expected by the international community.

As an answer to the question about Davutoglu’s announcement in the interview given to the Azerbaijani agency APA, that the settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations depends on the progress in the Karabakh problem, Nalbandian said that during the dinner given by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in honor of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs taking part in the summit, he had a rather detailed converstion with Davutoglu. The latter denied it, saying he had never made such an announcement.

Nalbandian mentioned that in addition to Davutoglu’s denial, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also made a rebuttal on this issue.

“This proves once more that one should have little trust in the Azerbaijani mass media,” Nalbandian said.

Copyright (c) 2010. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Translated from Russian by Yerevan Report

Photo credit: Photolur