YEREVAN, JUNE 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The main and only reason for suspending the Armenian-Turkish normalization process was Turkey's attempt to link other issues with the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in an interview with Austrian news magazine "Profil". He underlined that the international community has publicly admitted that the solution of the Nagorno Karabakh problem has no relation to the Armenian-Turkish normalization and any attempts to link them may harm the two processes. Speaking about the Turkish prime minister's statement about deportation of Armenians, E. Nalbandian noted that some leaders of present-day Turkey have not given up the intolerant and racist approaches of the Ottoman period. "The Armenian Genocide started with such statements made in 1914-1915. Later, at the end of the 20th century, the massacres and deportations of Armenians in Azerbaijan were also accompanied by such racist statements," the Armenian foreign minister reminded. When asked why Armenia attaches so much importance to the recognition of the Genocide by Turkey, E. Nalbandian explained that the recognition and condemnation of the first genocide of the 20th century is viewed not only as tribute to the memory of the Genocide victims, but also as an important means of preventing future genocides.

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