YEREVAN (TASS): Yerevan sincerely wants to normalize relations with Ankara, establish diplomatic relations and open borders. This was stated on Monday by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at a press conference, which is being held online on his Facebook page .
“We sincerely wish to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without preconditions and want to open the borders. In the past, we did not succeed, and we must use that experience. Is it possible that diplomatic relations will be established this year? I don’t know, not everything depends on us. But I think it would be quite logical if we achieve such a result: both the establishment of diplomatic relations and the opening of the border,” he said.
According to him, while maintaining the dynamics of negotiations with Ankara, Armenia can accept the invitation of the Turkish side to take part in the diplomatic forum in Antalya.
“We have already had a meeting of special representatives on the settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations. And if this dynamics continues, then it is highly likely that Armenia will take part in the diplomatic forum in Antalya. It would be illogical if we miss the opportunity to continue the conversation. It should be noted that the world community supports the process of settling relations, including Russia, the EU, the United States, the states of the region,” he said.
Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that he invited his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan to take part in this forum. Later, the press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Vahan Hunanyan said that the minister was considering the expediency of participating in the event.
Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia should not abandon the parliamentary system of government.
“We could make changes, and with a high probability I would have won the presidential election. But I spoke out against it, because the parliamentary system was new, and it had to be given a chance. You can’t make changes to the Constitution all the time. This is not good. Looking at the past, I understand that if we had made changes and were not in the parliamentary system, we might not have come out of the political crisis.And for the first time in the history of Armenia, elections led to a solution to the crisis situation, and not vice versa (meaning early parliamentary elections, passed on June 20 last year, as a result of which Pashinyan’s party won a majority in parliament – TASS note). So my opinion remains the same – we do not need to change the system of government,” Pashinyan said at a press conference, which takes place online on Monday -format on his page inFacebook .
Armenia has switched from a semi-presidential form of government to a parliamentary one since April 9, 2018 – from the day President Sarkissian took office. The President is the head of state, he monitors the observance of the Constitution, calls regular and extraordinary elections to the National Assembly, accepts the resignation of the government.
At the suggestion of the government and the prime minister, he makes changes to the composition of the cabinet, appoints and recalls ambassadors, concludes and denounces international treaties, and resolves issues of citizenship and pardon.
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