TURKEY SIGNS NORMALIZATION WITH ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN CON

Panorama.am
18:19 12/10/2009

The event called historical worldwide took place in Zurich
Saturday. Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish
counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu signed the Armenian-Turkish normalization
protocols. Anyway, not everyone evaluates this as positive…

"Prior to the signing ceremony, rumor was spread over the possible
non-signing of the protocols. The US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, who had arrived at the site of the ceremony, suddenly returned
to the hotel. Later it came known the parties were unable to reach an
accord over the statements to follow the signing ceremony. The Armenian
delegation was discontented with the remarks over Nagorno-Karabakh
issue to be arisen in the statement, and the Turkish party expressed
discontent with regard to the "Armenian Genocide" expression. After
long discussions, the parties agreed to make no statements at
all. Shaking hands and smiling at the cameras, the foreign ministers
left the Zurich University building following the signing ceremony,"
Moskovsky Komsomolets says.

As one could have expected, the signing of Armenian-Turkish protocols
faced the negative appraisal of the Azerbaijani party. "Armenia-Turkey
normalization prior to the withdrawal of the Armenian forces from the
Azerbaijani occupied territories contradicts to Azerbaijan’s national
interests and blows shade on the amiable relations between Azerbaijan
and Turkey," Azerbaijani MFA statement said.

In his turn, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, who was attending
the signing ceremony, hailed the event. "Russia is ready to back the
process by carrying out cooperation programs with Armenia and Turkey,
firstly, in the spheres of energy and communication," Russian FM said.

According to the protocols, the parties agreed to open the border
within two months, establish diplomatic relations, as well as trade
and economic cooperation. However, so that all this comes real, the
parliaments of two countries should validate the protocols. Though,
even in case they are validated, will Armenia and Turkey be able to
hold a dialogue? The oppositions to raise among the Armenian and
Turkish people, who are not very delighted by the signing of the
protocols, may cause instability in the region, experts think.