Yerevan, Ankara not holding talks - Armenian foreign minister
YEREVAN. June 5 (Interfax) - Yerevan and Ankara are not holding any talks on normalizing bilateral relations, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said.
There are not and cannot be any negotiations, he said at a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Yerevan.
These talks were finalized and protocols were signed, but they have not been implemented because Turkey offered a number of preconditions for their realization, Nalbandian said.
Armenia thinks that Turkey has no right to put forth any preconditions, he added.
Clinton, for her part, said that the ball was now in Turkey's court.
Washington wants Armenia and Turkey to normalize their relations without any preconditions, she said.
Armenia, for its part, has done everything it could, she added.
Clinton denied any link between the Armenian-Turkish normalization protocols and the continuing search for a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
No such link should exist, she said.
The U.S. stays actively involved in the process of normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey, Clinton said.