YEREVAN -- The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) has denounced President Serzh Sarkisian's policy on Turkey, claiming it gives Ankara a say in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and puts "unprecedented" international pressure on Yerevan to make further concessions to Azerbaijan, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports.
Levon Zurabian, a leading member of the HAK alliance headed by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian, said that "what was supposed to be a Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process has effectively turned into a Turkish-Armenian conflict."
Zurabian repeated HAK claims that Sarkisian willingly agreed to forego greater international recognition of the Armenian genocide when embarking on a far-reaching rapprochement with Turkey in 2008.
He said the Armenian leader hoped that an open border with Turkey would earn him stronger international support in regards to the Karabakh conflict.
"Sarkisian's regime also calculated that such support would help it crush with impunity the opposition struggle for democratic freedoms and the formation of a legitimate government in the country," Zurubian added.