ARMENIAN DEPUTY FM, TURKISH FOREIGN OFFICE REP MEET IN POSITIVE ATMOSPHERE

YEREVAN, January 30. /ARKA/. On the initiative of the Turkish side, RA Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosyan held a meeting in Istanbul with Director General, Directorate of Bilateral Relations, Turkish Foreign Office, Ambassador Reshed Uman, the Press and Information Department, RA Foreign Office, reports, referring to Acting Press Secretary of the RA Foreign Office Vladimir Karapetyan.

"During the meeting, which was held in a positive atmosphere, the sides discussed the two countries' positions and the possibilities of positive changes in Armenian-Turkish relations," he said.

"It should be noted that the sides still have disagreements over the issues under discussion," Karapetyan said.

According to him, Armenia remains ready to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without any preconditions.

"We hope that Turkey will take steps to overcome the existing disagreements," he said.

Arman Kirakosyan was in Istanbul to take part in the funeral of the Editor-in-Chief of the Armenian-language weekly "Agos" Hrant Dink, who was killed on January 19, 2007. P.T. -0--

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.