Alen Simonyan regrets Turkey's response to Nemesis monument erection in Yerevan
Speaker of Armenia’s National Assembly Alen Simonyan regrets Turkey’s decision to shut its airspace to Armenian flights heading to a third destination in response to the unveiling of a Nemesis monument in Yerevan last week.
The monument pays tribute to participants of Operation Nemesis, a 1920s program of assassinations of Ottoman Turkish perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide.
Speaking at Friday's press briefing in Ankara, where he has visited for the PABSEC meeting, Simonyan stated he would not want Turkey to perceive the installation of the Nemesis monument in Yerevan as a “display of Armenia’s foreign policy or an unfriendly step.”
He stressed that foreign policy is conducted by the prime minister and the foreign minister in Armenia, adding “everyone has witnessed the decisions made on these levels in recent months.”
“We have to realize that reasons or occasions for deteriorating relations can always be found, if desired. I could have found a thousand different reasons for not traveling to Turkey. But I am here to tell the Turkish public that Armenia is ready for peace and normalization of relations without preconditions,” the speaker said.
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