STRASBOURG - Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc met on Wednesday with Armenian Parliament Speaker Artur Bagdasaryan.
Bagdasaryan expressed Yerevan's will to hold diplomatic relations with Ankara again.
Diplomatic sources said that Arinc once more expressed Turkey's expectations from Armenia before holding bilateral diplomatic relations.
Arinc expressed Turkey's uneasiness about so-called Armenian genocide and land claims taking place in Armenian constitution and he recalled that not only Ankara but also the United Nations and international organizations were expecting Yerevan administration to take positive steps regarding the solution of Upper Karabakh problem.
Arinc said that if Turkey's sensitivities were taken into consideration and Armenia took positive steps for the solution of Upper Karabakh issue, Ankara would welcome this and give necessary reply to Yerevan.
Recalling that Turkey was the country which firstly recognized Armenia and made the first humanitarian aid to Yerevan, Arinc said that if Armenia took positive steps, Ankara would start considering establishment of diplomatic relations.
Arinc will meet with Turkish jurists in European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) within his meetings in Strasbourg.
Arinc has been in Strasbourg for three days to attend the European Conference of Presidents of Parliaments in which parliament speakers of Council of Europe (COE) member countries participated. The theme of the parliamentary summit was ''Europe of citizens: parliaments and participation of citizens''.
The conference ended today with the last session on ''Co-operation for more democracy - National Parliaments and European Assemblies.''
Arinc will return to Turkey on Thursday.
(GC-BRC) 19.05.2004