Armenia 'cannot recognize' Kosovo as it hasn't recognized Karabakh

He was speaking in an interview with Ukrainian newspaper, Segodnya.

Asked whether Armenia would recognize Georgia's breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Nalbandian said: "As long as the negotiating process is continuing and as long as there is hope of a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, we do not think that any other steps are needed."

"We have not yet recognized Nagorno-Karabakh and without having recognized Karabakh, we cannot recognize, for example, Kosovo, which has the right to be independent but no more so than Karabakh, or other entities that have been recognized by some countries but not the full international community," Nalbandian continued.

"If the negotiating process is not effective and if Azerbaijan's constant threats cause a breakdown, then certainly we will have to take different steps," he said.

Asked why rapprochement with Turkey had stalled, Nalbandian said this was because Ankara had started to set conditions on ratification of the rapprochement accords.

"We agreed on two draft protocols - on establishing diplomatic relations and on developing bilateral relations. These protocols were signed in October 2009 in Zurich without any preliminary conditions at all. They were to be ratified. But Turkey, with a nod towards a third country, said that it could not ratify, because they would not be pleased, but told us that they wanted to do it," Nalbandian said, making a veiled reference to Azerbaijan's objections to the accords.

"This went on for several months and it emerged that Turkey was really moving to the language of conditions concerning the Armenian genocide, as had been the case before the start of negotiations," Nalbandian told Segodnya.

"It linked the second precondition with a Karabakh settlement - resolve this issue, they said, then we'll talk. But we could say: resolve Cyprus, your relations with the Kurds, then we'll talk to you. Armenia was forced to stop the ratification process. We are ready to move forward, Turkey has the ball. The next match will take place when Turkey has trained properly and can take to the pitch without asking for a head start," the minister said.

His remarks echoed comments made by President Serzh Sargsyan in Ukraine's Profil magazine today that Armenia was waiting for a new leadership to emerge in Turkey "ready to show political will".

Elsewhere in the interview with Segodnya, Edward Nalbandian said that joining NATO was not on Armenia's agenda. "It's no secret that we are allies of Russia and these words are significant," the minister said.

He said that Russia had invested $2.75bn in Armenia.

http://www.news.az/articles/armenia/22826