Ararat Mirzoyan responds to Turkey’s foreign minister

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has responded to his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan’s recent statement, where he said that normalizing relations with Turkey is important for Armenia, and that if Ankara were to do so now, it would “take away Armenia’s biggest incentive” to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan.

In response to a question from Armenpress, Mirzoyan said that establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey and opening the border is indeed important for Armenia. “Equally important, however, is the further institutionalization of the peace achieved with Azerbaijan. Armenia is making sincere efforts in both directions. At the same time, neither of these components is conditioned by the other, and if one insists on identifying a causal link between them, one might conclude that a full normalization of relations with Turkey could—instead of having a negative impact—actually have a positive effect on the Armenia–Azerbaijan normalization process.

As for the issue of unblocking regional transportation infrastructure, the core principles of the process were agreed upon at the Aug. 8 peace summit in Washington: territorial integrity, inviolability of borders, sovereignty, jurisdiction, and reciprocity. Within this framework, the TRIPP route will connect Azerbaijan with Nakhijevan, Armenia with other countries, and broader regions with one another through Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia is making active efforts to bring it to life as soon as possible,” Mirzoyan stated.

Earlier, responding to questions from members of the Turkish parliament, Hakan Fidan had claimed that if Turkey normalizes relations with Armenia now, it would deprive Yerevan of its main reason for signing a peace agreement with Azerbaijan, since Armenia attaches significant importance to normalizing ties with Turkey.