Armenian Parliament Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan, Armenia's special representative in the negotiations with Turkey, touched upon the Armenian-Turkish talks during a briefing.
Rubinyan stated that the first meeting of the representatives of Armenia and Turkey was held in a constructive environment, the parties agreed to continue the negotiations. According to the Armenian representative in the process of relations with Turkey, the further process depends on the level of Turkey's constructiveness, honesty and readiness.
According to Rubinyan, the Armenian side wants to get involved in substantive talks as soon as possible, because, according to him, the Armenian side is in the solution of the real problems.
"I can say what is there at the moment. The first meeting of the two representatives took place, as a result of which the ministries of foreign affairs of the two countries issued press releases, in both of which, including the press release of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, it was stated that the parties agreed to continue the talks without preconditions.
Our first meeting was mainly cognitive in nature, we exchanged views on how we see the process, and technically a little substantive and, both sides tried to discuss other positive steps that create a non-sharp angle. I consider the first meeting constructive," Rubinyan said.
According to him, Armenia has always stated that it is ready to normalize Armenia-Turkey relations, open the border and establish diplomatic relations without preconditions.
"Armenia is honest in its approach; we hope that the Turkish side will also show similar constructiveness. We are interested in solving real problems. It is first of all the opening of the border. We have said the following: Armenia is ready to achieve normalization of relations without preconditions, which implies the opening of borders and the establishment of diplomatic relations,” said Ruben Rubinyan, referring to Turkey's concerns about the possibility of setting preconditions.
As for the issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide, he noted that under any Armenian government, the recognition of the Armenian Genocide was not a precondition for the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations by the Armenian side: nothing has changed in that regard.
Touching upon the issue of Artsakh's self-determination, Rubinyan noted that the issue of Artsakh's status is a matter of another dimension discussed in another format.
“There is a co-chairing of the OSCE Minsk Group for it. The opening of Armenia-Azerbaijan communications is being discussed in the co-chairing commission of Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani deputy prime ministers, and the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations is a separate issue,” he stressed.
