Opposition MP criticizes Turkish envoy’s remarks

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish officials say they feel “at home” in Yerevan while their country continues to keep Armenia under blockade, opposition MP Tigran Abrahamyan wrote on Facebook.

Turkey’s special representative Serdar Kilic earlier told reporters that Armenia and Turkey had not yet discussed a timeline for reopening the border and added that he feels “like at home” in Armenia.

According to Abrahamyan, one of the reasons behind such statements is that Turkey achieved its long-standing goal after the 2020 war by “becoming a decisive factor in Armenia.”

“The Turkish official stated in Yerevan that he feels at home here. But isn’t it strange that the same official also said trust between Armenia and Turkey depends on regional developments — more specifically, on Armenia-Azerbaijan relations,” Abrahamyan wrote.

He also noted that Turkey continues to keep its border with Armenia closed despite the fact that the original justification for shutting the border in 1993 was linked to the liberation of Kelbajar by Armenian forces.

“Even after the Armenian authorities handed Artsakh over to Azerbaijan, Turkey continues to put forward new preconditions, once again highlighting the simple truth that those who build foreign policy on unilateral concessions and defeatism continue to lose,” he said.

“In the end, Turkish officials feel at home here also because in 2020 they finally achieved their long-standing objective of becoming a decisive factor in Armenia,” Abrahamyan added.