July 25, 2011 - 19:54 AMT
PHOTOSET
Richard Giragosyan: Turkey may test Armenia’s soundness

Soon Turkey may seek to make a challenge to Armenia to try it, head of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies Richard Giragosyan said.

Giragosyan gained this impression after meeting with the head of Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu within the framework of the visit of Armenian civil society council representatives to Turkey.

“Talking with Davutoglu Armenian delegates raised three main issues,” Giragosyan told a press conference.

First, Ankara having impeded the process is currently responsible for normalizing relations, whereas Yerevan did everything to improve them. Besides, Armenian representatives noted that Yerevan cannot wait long, according to Giragosyan.

Second, there are two issues unifying Armenians all over the globe, namely, acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide and Karabakh resolution that Ankara cannot ignore.

And, “the third, we reminded that Turkey initially came out for improvement of relations without preconditions, however is putting them forward now, which is not fair,” said Armenian expert.

Giragosyan has got an impression that Turkey may want to test Armenia’s soundness soon. “However they will be disappointed to find Armenia strong. Armenia strengthened its positions as a result of Azerbaijani and Turkish blockade. And it is not ruled out that now the time has come for Armenia to dictate preconditions,” said the expert adding that no progress in Armenian-Turkish process is expected in the near future, however Turkey may step forward by 2015.

PHOTOSET