YEREVAN, 24 FEBRUARY, ARMENPRESS. In 2009, the Republic of Armenia initiated a process to establish relations with Turkey without preconditions that could have contributed to the strengthening of stability in the region. This is what Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov recalled during the hour of announcements at the National Assembly. “The Republic of Armenia had the moral right to set preconditions, but it didn’t take that step since it was fully aware of the fact that setting preconditions is not part of dialogue and democracy,” Sharmazanov mentioned, as “Armenpress” reports.

 He emphasized the fact that Turkey said one thing to the international community, and another thing to the Republic of Armenia. According to Sharmazanov, as we approach the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, instead of rejecting its policy, Turkey is linking the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations to the regulation of the Karabakh issue on the one hand, and is comparing the victim and the criminal instead of confronting its past on the other hand, and this is inadmissible.

 According to Sharmazanov, Turkey does not have and cannot have anything to do with the regulation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “The key to the regulation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is in the hands of the people of Artsakh, that is, in Stepanakert. The people of Artsakh must determine their fate,” he emphasized.