Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan has stated that Armeina expects Turkey to take concrete steps to start diplomatic relations in a press conference in Yerevan.

“We have reached a consensus to launch diplomatic relations without any preconditions between Armenia and Turkey and to re-open the Turkish-Armenian border. If Turkey is prepared to implement this, we would applaud Turkey and expect concrete steps from it in this direction,” said the foreign minister and added that not only has dialogue been established between the two countries but also serious talks have been continuing since Sept. 2008.

Nalbandyan said the Turkish side has changed its previous policy of imposing conditions for normalizing relations, explaining that these conditions were related to Armenia’s Nagorno-Karabakh dispute with Azerbaijan and Armenian efforts to bring international recognition to Armenian claims of genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire.

Turkey closed its border and severed its diplomatic ties with Armenia in 1993 in protest of Armenia’s occupation of a section of Azerbaijani territory in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh. The two countries have been holding closed-door talks to restore their relations and announced a framework agreement on normalizing ties in April.