‘Today, one can say the ball is in Turkey’s goals’ – Nalbandian on protocols

Turkey is trying to cover up its inability under the veil of preconditions of signing the Armenian-Turkish protocols, Armenian FM said in an interview.

“This is the reality. If during these last eight years, everyone, the international community was saying that the ball is in Turkey’s court, now we can say the ball is in Turkey’s goals”, he said.

Speaking about President Sargsyan’s statement at the UN General Assembly that Armenia will go into April 2018 without the protocols, Nalbandian said: “I wouldn’t say that the President made a harsh statement in the UN General Assembly. It was a statement stemming from reality, because for the first time in its new history, Turkey faced a sovereign and firmly standing Armenia. It was Turkey, not our country, that refused to implement the agreements reached with Armenia and the commitments which Turkey assumed before the international community. Armenia remained at its heights, because it was able to advance the process it had initiated to the end. While Turkey, which has regional or even greater aspirations, didn’t find strength to rise above the complexes, couldn’t stand above its prejudices in tangled complexes”.

According to Nalbandian, with the signing of the protocols, Armenia, certainly, had success, if not in terms of settling the Armenian-Tukrish relations, but perhaps if the Turkish side will be able to move truly without pre-conditions and be willing for equal to equal negotiations, like these negotiations happened, because for the first time in history, Turkey wasn’t forcing Armenia anything, it was rather Armenia that proposed in terms of the basis for talks.

“Turkey was conducting these talks based on our proposals, it signed these protocols at the presence of foreign ministers of numerous countries – Russia, US, France, Switzerland, representatives of EU and European Council, hundreds of reporters, but started to step back the next day. Armenia remained at its height and this also added trust for us, our reputation before the international community. And what did Turkey achieve? If Turkey isn’t able to respect an agreement, agreements signed by itself, then what kind of trust can there be for this country, not only in terms of the Armenian-Turkish relations. Turns out, Turkey is unable to listen and comprehend what the international community is saying”, he said.