Turkish President congratulated Serzh Sargsyan on victory in presidential race

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey's president said on Thursday he hoped the victory of Serzh Sargsyan in Armenia's presidential election would lead to a normalization of relations between their estranged countries.



"I hope your new position ... will permit the creation of the necessary environment for normalizing relations between the Turkish and Armenian peoples, who have proven over centuries they can live together in peace and concord," President Abdullah Gul said in a message of congratulations to Sargsyan.



"I sincerely wish that ... an atmosphere based on reciprocal trust and cooperation can be established that will contribute to regional peace and prosperity," Gul said, Reuters reports.



Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Armenia and keeps their land border closed since 1993. It denies that the mass killings of ethnic Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915-16 amounted to a Genocide and also insists on return of Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijan.