U.S. Ambassador John Heffern: Turkey to Blame for the Failure of Normalization of Relations with Armenia

YEREVAN — The process of normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations failed because of Turkey, US Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern said at the meeting with students at Synopsis Armenia R&D Center.
He considers that the Presidents of Armenia and Turkey demonstrated courage by signing the protocols on establishment of bilateral relations. However, Ankara set preconditions and failed to ratify the documents, he said.
”According to the agreement, there had to be no preconditions. However, Turkey tried to link the process to the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” he said, adding that Turkey is now expected to take a step.
“Armenia offered its hand, while Turkey failed to make a step forward,” Heffnern added.
The meeting took place in the format of fireside chat, where the US Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia John Heffern and the Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Strategic Alliances at Synopsis and CEO of Synopsis Armenia Rich Goldman held an informal conversation on a variety of topics including the Ambassador’s career path, his expectations of Armenia, as well as, IT sector, social entrepreneurship, social media, economy and education.
The ambassador stated that he reports to the U.S. State Department directly but he also tries to put pressure on the U.S. president to recognize the events of 1915. The ambassador added that Armenia is a complicated country due to the events of 1915.
“I think I was surprised by the warmness of the people towards me and towards United States, and the talents of the people and the success, like the IT industry, how talented the people are and how Armenia despite its economic challenges found ways to make real progress in high tech areas, like IT and telecommunications,” said the Ambassador. “I really do think that IT is the transformative sector for Armenia. I really do believe that Armenia’s future is a knowledge-based economy and these talented young people are the ones that are going to make Armenia a successful, prosperous country.”
Business requires rule of law, transparency, competitiveness and predictability, he emphasized, noting that they always tell Armenian officials that SMEs need honest competition, noting that start-up a business needs to be sure that the judicial system will be fair.