YEREVAN, DECEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. There is no change in Armenia’s position regarding the Armenian-Turkish relations, Tigran Balayan – Armenian foreign ministry spokesman, told ARMENPRESS commenting on the Turkish foreign ministry’s statement on the Armenian-Turkish protocols.

“Armenia’s stance on the Armenian-Turkish relations has been repeatedly expressed, and the last time it was expressed two days ago in Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian’s speech in Athens. It didn’t undergo any change”, the MFA spokesperson said.

Speaking about the Armenian-Turkish relations in the Greek foreign ministry, Armenian FM Nalbandian reminded that it was the initiative of the President of Armenia to start the normalization process with Turkey that resulted in the conclusion of the Zürich protocols in October 2009. However, the minister said up to now, those documents have not been ratified, since Turkey came up with groundless preconditions that run counter to the letter and spirit of the Protocols. “These documents cannot be held hostage forever and that is why the President of Armenia declared in September from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly that Armenia will declare the Protocols null and void since they continuously lacked any positive progress towards their implementation and we will enter the spring of 2018 without those Protocols”, Nalbandian said.

The Turkish foreign ministry commented on Nalbandian’s statement, accusing the Armenian side of not ratifying the protocols.

“Despite Armenia’s negative stance Turkey is committed to the main provisions of the protocols. The protocols remain in the agenda of the foreign affairs committee of the Turkish parliament, the existence of favorable political environment and peace in South Caucasus are important for ratifying them”, the Turkish foreign ministry said, once again groundlessly linking the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations with the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.