Armenia is the cause of problems in the South Caucasus, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted March 13 by the Turkish Anadolu news agency as saying, Trend reports.

As he noted, despite Turkey’s repeatedly holding out the hand of friendship to the Armenians, the country’s authorities keep rejecting the offer.

“So far, Armenia did noting to bring about the Karabakh conflict settlement. Seeing as Yerevan has problems with all neighboring countries, Armenia must reconsider its foreign policy,” Cavusoglu said.

Cavusoglu also said that Ankara hopes for an unchanged position of the US authorities in relation to the Armenian Genocide, otherwise relations between Washington and Ankara may deteriorate.

According to Cavusoglu, on April 24 the U.S. President Barack Obama will repeat his usual statement, without using the word ‘genocide.’

In late February, Turkish Foreign Minister reiterated conditions Ankara set forth for normalization of ties with Armenia.

As Mevlut Cavusoglu stated in an interview with Sabah, the Karabakh conflict settlement is essential to establish peace in the South Caucasus.

“To normalize ties with Ankara, Yerevan must cede Karabakh territories,” he said, accusing Armenia of taking no steps towards solving the Karabakh issue.