Raffi Hovhannisyan Addresses a Letter to Erdogan

The First Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, leader of the 'Heritage' party, Raffi Hovhannisyan, has addressed a letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In the letter, it is stated: 'Armenia welcomes Turkey's recent statements regarding the normalization of bilateral relations. However, it is actions that matter, certainly without any preconditions. We, with all goodwill, expect that Turkey:

• a) will implement a clear memorandum based on the fundamental principles of the UN, with agreements establishing diplomatic relations and mutually opening embassies in the capitals of both states,
• b) will reopen transport and communication routes that were unilaterally closed around thirty years ago,
• c) will use these historic diplomatic relations to address, among other issues, the problems inherited from the past and transformed into divisions, including recognition and reparation for the Armenian Genocide and Great Exile, guaranteeing the right of all descendants of victims and survivors to return to their National Homeland, restoration of desecrated cultural heritage (some of which you have commendably addressed); these are necessary steps towards comprehensive normalization of relations, genuine reconciliation of peoples, and legal and mandatory demarcation of interstate borders,
• d) will remove its armed forces from the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, including from the twenty-one kilometers of the Goris-Kapan highway,
• e) will also withdraw its armed forces from Shushi, Hadrut, and other occupied territories, transforming them into a safe, neutral zone within the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) with guarantees for the return of displaced persons of all nationalities to their birthplace,
• f) will return all prisoners of war held in your other nation-state, both military and civilian,
• g) will guarantee that your other nation-state will resume civilized negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE with the properly elected authorities of the Republic of Artsakh for a comprehensive and final resolution of the conflict.

This is, sir, the way to long-term peace and dignity. Conquest and denial, UAVs and Bayraktars can yield a momentary, a decade-long, or even a century-long hollow human glorification. But the power that rises on injustice and falsehood ultimately collapses. God is neither a Muslim, nor a Christian, nor a Jew. Take a step back, human being; the battle is not war yet.'