Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 11 / Trend T. Hajiyev /
The protocols between Turkey and Armenia have not been ratified because Ankara put Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as the main condition, Kiro Manoyan, head of the headquarters of Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutiun's Hay Dat office, told media in Baku today.
He hopes that Turkey and Armenia will establish a dialogue in the future.
"Turkey must abandon any preconditions to establish diplomatic relations between Ankara and Yerevan. Otherwise, it will be impossible to establish any relations between the parties, Manoyan said.
Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward Nalbandian signed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols in Zurich Oct. 10 to normalize bilateral relations broken in 1993. The protocols must be ratified by the parliaments of both countries for these protocols to enter into force.
The Turkish government said that relations between Ankara and Yerevan will be restored only after Armenia liberates the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding negotiations to resolve the dispute.
Armenia has failed to implement U.N. Security Council resolutions stipulating the liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.
Manoyan attends a regional conference of the Socialist International in the CIS, the Caucasus and the Caspian Basin, started in Baku on Monday.