“Turkey is making different insinuations about alleged ‘silent diplomacy.’ You know, there is a Russian song with such words: ‘I’m quietly talking to myself.’ Turks may be talking to themselves,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said while talking to students at Yerevan State University on Wednesday, Armenian news outlets reported.
Noting that the Turks have not made any constructive steps since Oct. 10, 2009, Nalbandian said they were waiting for the Turks to get ready. “In contrast to the Turkish side, we do not make contradictory steps or statements,” Nalbandian said.
Gül suggested that there were misunderstandings in Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan due to the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process and said Turkish-Armenian relations had entered a period of “silent but decisive diplomacy,” in an interview with the Azerbaijani APA news agency two days before his visit to Azerbaijan on Aug. 16-17. He also reiterated his earlier statement during his two-day visit to Azerbaijan.
Turkey and Armenia signed twin protocols on Oct. 10, 2009, in an attempt to normalize relations between the two countries. Armenia suspended the reconciliation process on April 22 of this year after Turkey pegged the ratification of the protocols to a breakthrough in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. “Our steps are accepted by the international community, and we are fully internationally supported,” the Armenian foreign minister said.
