Armenia’s newly elected Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated on Wednesday that the country is ready for the re-establishment of diplomatic relations without preconditions with Turkey, the NTV news website reported.
Pashinyan told reporters on Wednesday: “You know that Turkey is putting forward preconditions. The demand of Turkey is illogical, because it is illogical to put forward conditions related to a third country in order to establish relations with any country. We do not change our position and we are ready to establish relations without conditions. At the same time, we remain committed to international recognition of the Armenian Genocide,” news.am quoted the new prime minister as saying.
According to Pashinyan, international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is more linked to the need to prevent further genocides rather than to Armenian-Turkish relations.
Pashinyan, a 42-year-old former journalist, became prime minister after obtaining the necessary vote from parliament on May 8. After leading street protests for more than 10 days, Pashinyan and the opposition managed to force former Prime Minister Serj Sarkisyan to step down.
Armenia and Turkey attempted to re-establish bilateral relations in 2008 and 2009; however, the attempts at rapprochement were futile.