Azernews.Az

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian has warned attempts to forge diplomatic ties with Turkey may be derailed, accusing Ankara of impeding the process of normalizing bilateral ties, which have been strained for many years.
"If Turkey continues negotiating while leveling pre-conditions and links the normalization process with other issues, this will impede the process. In that case, a disruption of talks is not ruled out," Nalbandian said.
Efforts to normalize Ankara-Yerevan relations faced further roadblocks this week, with the sides blaming each other for putting forward new pre-conditions for the reconciliation process.
Turkey and Armenia face decades of enmity. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 due to Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory and claims on genocide allegedly committed during World War I. In a bid to normalize ties, Ankara and Yerevan signed protocols in Switzerland in October 2009 to establish diplomatic relations and reopen the sealed Turkish-Armenian border. However, the documents require ratification in both countries’ parliaments. Turkish officials have assured Azerbaijan, Turkey’s ally, that the protocols will not pass in the country’s parliament until progress is made in resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh.*