YEREVAN – Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has responded to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s statement that normalization with Turkey is important for Armenia and that if Ankara proceeds now, it will remove Armenia’s main incentive to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan.
Speaking to “Armenpress,” Mirzoyan said that establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey and opening the border is indeed important for Armenia. Equally important, he added, is the further institutionalization of the peace achieved with Azerbaijan.
“At the same time, however, neither of these components is conditioned by the other. And if we insist on seeing a causal link between them, it may turn out that the full normalization of relations with Turkey could, rather than negatively, in fact positively affect the process of normalization between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” he said.
Regarding the unblocking of transport infrastructure, the foreign minister noted that at the August 8 peace summit in Washington, the sides agreed on core principles for this process: territorial integrity, inviolability of borders, sovereignty, jurisdiction, and reciprocity.
“Within this framework, the TRIPP route will connect Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan, Armenia with other countries, and—through a broader geography—various regions with one another via Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia is actively and constructively working to implement this as soon as possible,” Mirzoyan said.
Armenia and Azerbaijan are currently discussing the issue of the “Zangezur Corridor.” When that and matters related to Armenia’s Constitution are resolved and a final peace agreement is signed, Ankara will open the border with Armenia, Minister Fidan had stated.
