GOV’T SENDS PROTOCOLS TO MPS, NO DEADLINE FOR RATIFICATION

Today’s Zaman
Oct 20 2009
Turkey

The government will send the two Zurich protocols on normalizing
relations with neighboring Armenia to Parliament this week, but there
is no deadline for their ratification, according to a senior Justice
and Development Party (AK Party) official.

"The process [of ratification] will proceed according to developments
in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute," Bekir Bozdag, an AK Party deputy
parliamentary group chairman, told Today’s Zaman.

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed the two protocols
on Oct. 10 in Zurich, but they must be ratified in order to go into
effect. The protocols call for the opening of the border, closed
since 1993, and the restoration of diplomatic relations. Turkey
closed the border and severed its diplomatic ties with Armenia in
a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan, who fought a war with Armenia
over Nagorno-Karabakh. About one-fifth of Azerbaijani territory has
been under Armenian occupation since then.

The documents are eventually expected to be passed in Parliament,
but it is not clear when lawmakers will vote on them. There is no
timetable on the ratification, and such documents can wait for years
before being put to vote. One such document was the Kyoto protocol
on climate change, which waited for 17 years before it was eventually
ratified earlier this year by Turkey’s Parliament.

Foreign Minister Davutoglu, who has visited the opposition parties
to inform them of the protocols and lobby for their support, will
address Parliament on Wednesday regarding the documents. "As to when
they will be ratified, this is up to our Parliament," he told a press
conference on Monday.

The opposition parties have criticized the protocols, saying they
hurt the interests of Azerbaijan, a regional ally and a key energy
supplier. "The government says it wants zero problems with the
neighbors, but we ended up creating problems with a country that we
had excellent relations with," said Onur Oymen, deputy chairman of the
opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), who is expected to deliver
a speech in Parliament on Wednesday expressing his party’s stance.

"We have said that these protocols harm Azerbaijan’s interests. We
will express our regrets and concerns in our speech on Wednesday,"
seconded Oktay Vural, a deputy parliamentary group chairman of the
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).