Before leaving for Moscow, RoA President Serzh Sargsyan answered a few questions from reporters at Zvartnots Airport. The following was issued by the presidential press service.

Q – Mr. President, now that the protocols have been signed can it be concluded that your precondition that the border be opened before you travel to Turkey has been implemented? A – We have never spoken about preconditions with anyone. On the contrary, we have always talked about normalizing relations without preconditions. What we have mentioned is that there must be positive steps or prerequisites, and I think we can say that these have been met. In addition, I have always placed great importance on the principle of reciprocity. Turkish President Gul accepted my invitation to come to Armenia and I see no serious obstacles why I shouldn’t respond in kind. If there are no shattering developments within the next two days I will go to Bursa and support our football team. Q – If this is the case, how would you interpret yesterday’s statements of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Davutoglu? A – It’s unfortunate that our public receives information about those statements from the Turkish media outlets that naturally wish to skew and condense official statements. In any event, I believe those statements have been directed towards internal Turkish public opinion. Otherwise, I would find it incomprehensible if the Turks failed to ratify the protocols, which they’ve just signed. Perhaps they thought we wouldn’t garner the will to go ahead and thus back down; perhaps. In any event, the ball is now in the Turkish court and we have the patience to see what develops. We’ve made our position quite public and will not waiver from this direction. If they ratify the protocols and keep their end of the bargain, we will continue with the process. If they don’t, we will have no qualms but to do what we have already stated. Q – Mr. President, after the negotiations in Kishnev, the Azerbaijan president declared that agreement had already been reached on the return of the territories surrounding the NKR. Can you either affirm or deny this statement? A – What was amazing in that interview wasn’t that President Aliyev was displeased with the results of the negotiations but what he stated; including what you just noted. I have no idea with whom the Azerbaijani president reached such an agreement. And if you’ll note, there are several points of confusion in that statement. He doesn’t say when or where. We have never discussed the return of territories with the Azerbaijani president. He is dissatisfied with the results of the negotiations because we have only discussed two issues - the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh and interim status issues. If he is displeased in this matter, I cannot help him.