RUBEN SAFRASTYAN: PROTOCOLS DIRECTED TOWARD NORMALIZATION OF ARMENIAN- TURKISH RELATIONS IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENT OF ARMENIAN DIPLOMACY

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS:The protocols directed toward normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations are important achievements of the Armenian diplomacy, Director of Eastern Sciences Institute of the Armenian Academy of Sciences, Turkish Scientist Ruben Safrastyan said today at a press conference, pointing out that these documents must be treated very seriously. “Of course, very serious work has been carried out and it might be said that these documents are important and positive for Armenia,” he said, adding that the positive thing is that Turkey refused to tie relations with Armenia with its stance in the Karabakh conflict regulation process as the document says nothing connecting Armenian-Turkish relations with Karabakh issue. He said that the Turkish diplomacy was trying to make Armenia reject its Genocide recognition policy. “In these documents, though, we see that Turkey has also stepped back from forwarding pre-conditions,” Safrastyan pointed out, noting that, though, it does not mean that Turkey in short period of `time` will implement its commitments. “It will be a long process during which our diplomats must preserve the current attacking strategy,” Safrastyan pointed out, adding that Armenia will reach its final goal and relations with Turkey will normalize without preconditions. The speaker said that such sharp step of Turkey is explained with the latter’s active policy in the region. Turkey’s leadership understood that it is not right to tie country’s foreign policy with interests of another country – Azerbaijan. Besides, normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations is one of the demands of EU to Turkey.