Turkey “to mend ties with Armenia after Yerevan-Baku problems solved”August 30, 2018 - 17:17 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Speaker of Turkey’s Grand National Assembly Binali Yildirim has spoken about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and relations between Armenia and Turkey in an interview with İctimai TV, a public television channel in Azerbaijan. According to him, relations between Yerevan and Ankara cannot be normalized if Armenia “doesn’t return the occupied territories to Azerbaijan,” Ermenihaber.am reports "We never differentiate between Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish relations,” Yildirim was quoted as saying. “In order to reach a normalization of ties between Turkey and Armenia, problems between Armenia and Azerbaijan should be settled first. Only then will Turkey mend relations. The opposite is unlikely.” Earlier, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with Al Jazeera that Armenia is ready to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without preconditions. Pashinyan said the borders between Armenia and Turkey were closed not on Yerevan’s initiative, but on Ankara’s. In fact, he said, “that border is open from the Armenian side." According to him, it’s Turkey that should make a decision to open the border. Top stories Six total incidents have burned 19 old-growth trees. Friday night 8 trees were torched along the beautiful main entrance. The EU does not intend to conduct military exercises with Armenia, Lead Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano says. Hikmet Hajiyev has said that there is no place for USAID operation in Azerbaijan any longer. A telephone conversation between Putin and Pashinyan before the CSTO summit is not planned, Peskov says. Partner news | European Parliament to discuss repression in Azerbaijan The European Parliament will discuss repression of civil society in Azerbaijan on April 24 PACE wants concessions from Azerbaijan to accept Baku back A PACE co-rapporteur said that Azerbaijani authorities must make certain concessions so that the country can return to PACE. Armenia PM, France envoy discuss regional matters Issues related to the consistent development of Armenia-France cooperation were discussed. Azerbaijan razes historic Armenian church to ground Azerbaijan has demolished the historic Armenian Church of St. John the Baptist (known as Kanach Zham). |