Azernews.Az

Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian has said his country was close to reaching a peace accord with Azerbaijan.
Sarkisian, one of the key runners-up in the February 19 presidential election, told AFP news agency that Yerevan was also keen on restoring its ties with neighboring Turkey, Azerbaijan's closest political ally that backs Baku's fair cause in its conflict with Armenia.
Sarkisian maintained that tangible progress has been achieved in talks on settling the long-standing Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh.
"Just a few unresolved issues stand in the way of solving the problem," he said.
Sarkisian blamed Ankara for the current tensions with Yerevan. "We are ready to unconditionally restore our diplomatic relations with Turkey. It is the Turks who are putting forth pre-conditions," the Armenian premier claimed.
Armenia and Turkey have been at odds and the border between the two countries has been closed since 1993 on Ankara's insistence due to Armenia's policy of occupation and the "Armenian genocide" claims.
Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijani territory since the early 1990s in defiance of international law.
Armenians term the 1915 developments in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, a claim strenuously denied by the modern Turkish state.