US SECRETARY OF STATE REVEALS WHY NO STATEMENTS FOLLOWED ZURICH SIGNING CEREMONY

Panorama.am
19:07 12/10/2009

"Well, we had a good night in Zurich, watching the signing of
the protocols between Turkey and Armenia. And now the process
continues. We, obviously, are committed to doing everything we
can to build on the milestone that was reached today, but it’s
challenging. And there is a lot of very difficult, complex issues that
have to continually be discussed and worked out. But I am very pleased
that we were able to get the protocols signed, and now we move on to
the next phase of this," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said,
according to the state department.

When asked what was in the protocol that they objected to and what
did the Armenians object to in the statement that was to be delivered
by the Turks, Clinton answered:

"There were questions of interpretation as to what should or should
not be said. These are issues that Phil and I have been dealing with
for months. And we were able to get everybody to understand that it
was imperative that we go forward, and so we did. I was on the phone
with Phil, with Minister Nalbandian, with Mr. Davutoglu. And then we
wanted to get everybody in the same place, instead of having the Swiss
come to see us, and then talking to everybody on the phone. So that’s
when I went in and spent time talking through some of the concerns
that had been expressed, and brought Minister Nalbandian with us back
to the university, so that the chief Swiss negotiator, (inaudible),
plus our other counterparts, Ministers Lavrov, Kouchner, Solana, and —

Referring to the decided 3-minute statements to follow the signing
ceremony, Clinton said, "Well, first of all, it got awfully late. I
was already two hours late. Lavrov was late. Everybody was late. The
foreign minister had already missed his plane. So it was sensible to
get the signing done, and then people could issue their statements,
which I am sure they’re doing. And we’re working on a joint statement
among the witnesses."

"This is a diplomatic act of varying degrees of difficulty. Kind of
like diving every day. Some of you were with me in Honduras. That
was also a very challenging negotiation, which finally worked out
very well.

But I think it’s just what you sign up for. I mean, this is —
when you’re trying to help people resolve long-standing problems
between themselves, it is a very challenging process. People have a
lot of history that they have to contend with. They have all kinds of
domestic, political challenges. The Armenians, as we saw with President
Sargsian’s tour, have people around the world with strong feelings. So,
it is — you know, it is a challenge, but that is what we’re trying to
work out here. Well, they’re both going to be submitting the protocols
to their parliaments, and it’s going to be difficult. But that’s the
next step of the process," Clinton highlighted.