The impression is that Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian visited Turkey for the sake of appearance, Armenian publicist Sargis Hatspanyan said at today's press conference in Yerevan. He considers Edward Nalbandian's participation in Turkish president's swearing-in ceremony to be a diplomatic mistake.
"Official Yerevan's decision to send the first diplomat to the swearing-in ceremony of the president of the country with which it lacks diplomatic relations is a rough mistake. It is even needless to say that during his premiership, the new president of Turkey repeatedly made anti-Armenian statements", said Hatspanyan.
He said that the Turkish media outlets ironically speculated on the goals of the Armenian Foreign Minister's visit and mentioned Sargsyan's letter only in the form of suppositions. "So, it is simply ridiculous to say that the Armenian foreign policy is self-motivated and that the Armenian minister was able to impose his agenda on Turkey", he said.
Hatspanyan compared Nalbandian's visit to Turkey with Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu's Dec 2013 visit to Yerevan. He said that on the threshold of the Turkish minister's visit a statement was made at the official level that there would be no meeting of ministers, but Davutoglu came to Yerevan and made the Armenian party meet with him. "He came to Yerevan and took the initiative. The same cannot be said about Nalbandian's visit", the publicist said.