TURKISH PARLIAMENT’S OPPOSITION FORCES TO VOTE AGAINST ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS

NOYAN TAPAN
OCTOBER 22, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The day before Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu submitted the protocols on normalization of
Armenian-Turkish relations to country’s parliament. As Radio Liberty
reported referring to the Anatolia Turkish agency, before submitting
the protocols to the parliament the Turkish government did not expect
the voting to be held immediately.

The opposition forces represented in the Turkish parliament have
already declared that they will vote against the ratification of the
Armenian-Turkish protocols.

According to Devlet Bahcheli, the leader of the Nationalist
Movement party, in particular, official Ankara by making a decision
on normalizing the relations with Armenia "disregarded brotherly
Azerbaijan’s interests." "By signing the protocols with Armenia and
later, during the Armenia-Turkey football match by prohibiting to
bring Azerbaijan’s flags to the stadium the government formed by
the Justice and Development party deeply insulted the Azeris," the
Turkish Nationalists’ leader declared.

The other opposition force represented in the Turkish parliament,
People’s-Republican Party, which has 112 deputies in the 550-seat
Grand National Assembly of Turkey, is also going to vote against the
ratification of the protocols.

The final approach of the Justice and Development party representatives
having the majority of mandates in the parliament is not clear
yet. Many of Turkish analysts do not exclude that ruling party’s
deputies will only vote for the ratification of the protocol on
establishment of diplomatic relations with Armenia. "Ruling party’s
deputies can link protocols envisaging opening of the border with the
process of Nagorno Karabakh settlement," Barcin Yinanc, the editor
of the English version of Turkish Hurriyet newspaper asserts.