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It would be insulting for the Armenian people to make unilateral concessions to establish relations with Turkey, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said at the PACE winter session on Wednesday commenting on the question over the Armenian-Turkish relations.

“We do not understand well the demand of the Turkish side to do something. In 2008, after I got elected, I initiated the publicizing of the Armenian-Turkish relations, as a result of which a meeting was held between the Armenian and Turkish presidents,” he said.

The president reminded that Armenia and Turkey signed two documents on establishment of relations between the two countries in Zurich, Switzerland in 2009 at the presence of the foreign ministers of permanent members of the UN Security Council. 

“Those documents clearly stated that these relations are to be established without any preconditions, but unfortunately the Turkish side has continued to come up with preconditions. In the international experience we have not come across similar examples, all terms are negotiated before signing a document. Nine years down the road we keep hearing from the Turkish side about allegedly taking a step. While the document very clearly states that the relations are to be established after which all the existing wrinkles between the two countries should be discussed,” Mr Sargsyan said.

Serzh Sargsyan stressed Armenia can never accept any preconditions. 

“Turkey is a powerful state indeed, it has enormous potential, but this does not mean Turkey should speak from the position of power or in the language of preconditions. We do not accept such a stance,” he stressed.

The president observed that there are more powerful states with larger population than Turkey, adding if they spoke from the position of power with Turkey, the latter would never accept such an attitude.

“It would be insulting for our people to make unilateral concessions to establish relations [with Turkey,” he stressed.

Serzh Sargsyan once again announced that the Armenia-Turkey Protocols will be voided by Armenia before spring, urging Turkey to abandon its policies.

“I believe it would be appropriate and correct for the Turkish side to give up such a position and its support for Azerbaijan to maintain the fragile stability in the region. I want to remind that during the hostilities in April 2016 Turkey was the only state to publically voice support for Azerbaijan’s military actions,” he said.