Azernews.Az

Turkey has responded to Armenia’s statement that it was suspending ratification of the 2009 accords on normalizing bilateral relations, with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu saying this was a unilateral decision that Ankara would not meddle in.
"As the prime minister [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan] said, this is their choice," Davutoglu said. "Naturally, we have no intention to interfere with their choice. However, we believe it is appropriate to continue the [normalization] process. We hope that a conducive political environment will emerge between Turkey and Armenia in the shortest time possible and the process will go on from the point it was left at."
Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian blamed Turkey for the suspension of the protocols’ approval, claiming that Ankara had failed to take any steps forward with regard to the documents. "Until Turkey takes a step, we can’t move forward," he said.
Armenia and Turkey signed accords in October last year to establish diplomatic relations and open their land border, in a bid to end decades of hostility caused by the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory and Yerevan’s claims on 1915 "genocide" in Ottoman Turkey. However, 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. The Armenian parliament has not approved the deal either. On Thursday, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian announced Yerevan’s decision to halt approval of the protocols but said his country "had decided not to exit the process for the time being, but rather, to suspend the procedure of ratifying the protocols," which he said would be "in the best interests of our nation."*