YEREVAN SHOWS RESTRAINT ON PERSPECTIVE OF SOONEST IMPROVEMENT OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net - The change of the Turkish government towards the "Azeri factor" induced Yerevan to a more restrained position on the perspective of the soonest improvement of the Turkish-Armenian relations, Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oskanian stated in his interview to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. "Our relationships with the new Turkish government had a good start. I have had three meetings with Turkish FM Abdullah Gul since beginning of the last year, the first meeting being positive, the second one worse, the third bore rather bad nature. At first we focused attention at bilateral relations; during the second meeting we discussed the Nagorno Karabakh issue as well; during the third meeting Karabakh became the pre-condition for the improvement of relations. Thus, we found ourselves at the initial positions, as it was at the time of the former Turkish government, the Armenian FM said. When replying to the question, why the Turkish government refused from the previous flexible policy towards Armenia, V. Oskanian said: "They underestimated the Azeri factor. With coming to power the present authorities thought they can do anything they consider necessary but then understood that it is impossible to ignore the "Azeri factor".