"We can normalize relations with Armenia as we did with Serbia"

Friday, 19 March 2010 08:48

Reminding normalization of relations between Turkey and Serbia, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, "Why would not we be able to normalize relations with Armenia like we did with Serbia?"

Davutoglu said, "The conflict between Turks and Serbs dates back to 1300s. Our problems with Armenians are just a century old. We do not have experience of living together with Serbs. On the other hand, we lived with Armenians. Therefore, we attach importance to the relations with Armenia. We changed the nature of our relations with Serbians within a year which was not good for one thousand years. I met my Serbian counterpart for 11 times in six months. Armenians do not talk Nagorno-Karabakh issue with us. They tell that we are on the Azerbaijani side. But we tell them that if we could solve problems with Serbia we can do it with you too. As a result of our efforts there is a rapprochement between Bosnia and Serbia. Bosnia and Herzegovina assigned ambassador to Serbia. The conflict between Bosnians and Serbs happened later than Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict and the pain is stronger. We spoke to Bosnian President for two hours and we solved the problems with Serbs. Now, an apology for the massacre in Srebrenica by Serbians is on the agenda. If we can talk to Serbians that we have been in conflict for one thousand year, why couldn't we do the same with Armenians? We are holding three partite talks with Bosnians and Serbians. Why can't we do the same with Azerbaijanis and Armenians?"