December 5, 2008 - 15:26 AMT
RA FM: together Armenia and Turkey will achieve common goal - normalize relations
The bold steps taken by the Presidents of Armenia and Turkey demonstrate political will and readiness to move forward, Armenian Foreign Minister said.

"Of course, no one expects miracles and we were pragmatic enough not to think that all problems would be solved overnight. However, the important thing is to achieve a tangible result and not to negotiate for the sake of negotiations. We are looking for establishment of diplomatic relations and opening of borders without any precondition and we expect the same approach from the Turkish side. Parties continue to work and negotiate and I hope that together we will achieve what I believe is our common goal - normalize our relations and bring security and stability to our region," Minister Edward Nalbandian said in his address to the OSCE Ministerial Council.

"I would like to wish success to the incoming Chairmanship-in-Office and to ensure my distinguished Greek colleague, Minister Dora Bakoyanis that she can count on the support of Armenia in all her endeavours aimed at reaching security and prosperity in the OSCE area."

"There is one more long-standing problem which needs wise approach and political courage to be resolved. I would like to briefly touch upon the Armenian-Turkish relations, the normalization of which will highly contribute to the establishment of stability and security in the whole region," he said

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul was in Yerevan on Sept. 6 to watch a World Cup qualifier between the Armenian and Turkish national teams. Before the match, the heads of state discussed possibilities to normalize bilateral relations. "We hope we will be able to demonstrate goodwill to solve the problems between our countries and not leave them to future generations," Armenian President Sargsyan said after the meeting.