TURKEY’S PM SAYS ARMENIA-TURKEY PROTOCOLS TO BE SIGNED OCTOBER 10

Panorama.am
12:40 07/10/2009

The Wall Street Journal Tuesday afternoon reported that Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview that the signing of
the Armenia-Turkey protocols was not dependent on progress of talks to
be held Thursday in Moldova between the Armenian and Azeri presidents.

"The agreement will be signed on October 10. It doesn’t have anything
to do with what happens in Moldova," Erdogan told the Wall Street
Journal Sunday.

Erdogan also said the two processes – a resolution of the Karabakh
conflict and rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia – remain linked,
and that a positive outcome in Moldova would help overall. Turkish
officials have continued to indicate the border could take longer to
open than the three months set out in the three-page protocol.

The Turkish leader said the only obstacle to signing the deal on
Saturday would come if Armenia seeks to alter the text. "This is
perhaps the most important point – that Armenia should not allow its
policies to be taken hostage by the Armenian diaspora," Mr. Erdogan
said. Much of Armenia’s large diaspora opposes the protocol.

A spokesman for Armenia President Serzh Sarkisian declined to comment
on whether Armenia would seek changes to the protocol. He said the
government would make a statement on "steps" concerning the protocol
soon.