Visit To The First Christian Nation. Pope Francis
The press service of MFA Armenia informed that the German Foreign Minister will be received by Armenian President. Talks between Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Germany will take place on June 29, after which Edward Nalbandian and Frank-Walter Steinmeier will deliver a joint press conference.
In his letter, Erdogan called Russia “a friend and a strategic partner” of Ankara, with whom the Turkish authorities would not want to spoil relations. “We never had a desire or a deliberate intention to down an aircraft belonging to Russia,” the letter read, according to a statement published on the Kremlin website. According to the statement, Erdogan’s letter stressed that “the Turkish side undertook all the risks and made a great effort to recover the body of the Russian pilot from the Syrian opposition, bringing it to Turkey.
Aleksey Martynov (Moscow) director of the International Institute of the Newly Established States, Russia didn’t give a silent consent, that Azerbaijan launched a war against Armenia, “It’s the thesis by Erdogan for the simple purpose—to involve Russia in another regional conflict. You say that Azerbaijani attack on Artsakh is an attack on Armenia, but they are not totally the same. Erdogan would be eager that the conflict deepened and passed on from Artsakh contact line to Armenia-Azerbaijan border, as in that case pursuant CSTO agreement Russia would have to interfere militarily and enter Turkey through the territory of Azerbaijan. And here direct clash would have been recorded.”
“Parallel to it issue of expansion of the existing Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in Office has been covered. The exact number isn’t mentioned, however, I may say that currently 6 people are working, then the number may increase maximum 2-2.5 times, i.e. it doesn’t refer to big mission. OSCE mandate is the same, there are no any changes, only instead of 6 people there will be 12, 13 or 14,” Aliyev clarified.
Official Ankara considered unacceptable the Pope’s statements. In particular, the Turkish MFA’s announcement says the visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial, the statements on the Genocide, the joint statement with Catholicos of All Armenians once again show “Pope Francis’ unconditional commitment to the Armenian stories which do not correspond with the 1915 historical realities.”
“I am happy to have visited Armenia, the first nation to accept Christianity as its religion, and I thank all for the welcome. #PopeInArmenia”
“Sharing any authority with other country is a problem. And in this regard, if the state faces such an imperative, we need to understand at least what it may gain for that. For Russia this is a small snapshot of a greater—NATO-Russia, USA-Russia, air and terrain—conflict, and if Russia itself gets keys of the Caucasus sky due to Armenia, a question arises here: what will it give for it? Only armaments?”
The pope first used the genocide label last year in a ceremony at the Vatican and Turkey angrily responded by recalling its ambassador to the Vatican for 10 months. The pope, who delighted his hosts by referring several times to the slaughters and visiting Yerevan’s genocide memorial, has urged Armenia and Turkey to seek reconciliation.
“Some occurrences happened after the ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica, but the true relations between the Holy See and Turkey are good, there are no reasons to see big issues here. Yesterday evening, references to past tragedies were made not for inflaming the wounds, but rather to help find grounds for reconciliation”, Federico Lombardi said.
