ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS NEED PUBLIC SUPPORT, FM STATES

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Sept 16 2009
Armenia

20:07 / 09/16/2009The Armenian authorities need public support to sign
the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan
stated in Parliament.

Responding to the ARF member Vahan Hovhannisyan’s questions about
possible amendments to the Protocols before they are signed and
about whether the Armenian Foreign Office is informed of the ARF’s
proposals concerning the documents, Minister Nalbandyan said: "The
representatives of both countries held long consultations before
the Protocols took their present form. Numerous proposals were
not incorporated in the documents for some reasons. As a result,
two protocols were submitted to the public for political forces and
public to form their opinion on them and voice it before the Parliament
ratifies the documents. If the political forces and the public do
not approve of the documents, the Parliament will reject them, or
vice versa." However, the Minister did not give a clear answer to
the question about possible amendments to the documents before they
are signed. If the answer is negative, why did the political forces
put in a great deal of effort to draft amendments?

As to why the Armenian Parliament must ratify the Protocols if
it is not standard practice in Armenia, the Minister said: "The
Armenian Parliament does not normally ratify protocols on diplomatic
relations. However, since it is a special case, both sides consider
ratification of the Protocols by Parliaments legally acceptable. It
does not contradict either the Armenian or international law. If, one
fine day, diplomatic relations with Azerbaijan should be established
I think it would be right if the Parliaments ratified the agreement."

Minister Nalbandyan also tried to dispel the fears of the political
forces that believe the ratification of the Protocols will challenge
the fact of Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. "A declaration
denouncing the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire was adopted as
long ago as the times of Soviet Armenia and is still in force. The
agreements do not challenge the fact of the Armenian Genocide,
which has repeatedly been stressed by the Armenian President. And
I, for my part, state it once again," Nalbandyan said. As regards
an Armenian-Turkish subcommittee of scholars which, as part of the
Armenian-Turkish Intergovernmental Commission, is supposed to study
historical facts, Minister Nalbandyan pointed out that it is to launch
activities only after the two states establish diplomatic relations
and the border is reopened.