ACCORDING TO HRAYR KARAPETIAN, SIGNING OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROTOCOLS STRENGTHENED TURKS’ POSITIONS

NOYAN TAPAN
NOVEMBER 2, 2009
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, NOYAN TAPAN. The signing of the Armenian-Turkish
protocols strengthened the positions of the Turks and gave them
a possibility to go further in the respect of bringing forward
preconditions. RA NA ARFD faction member Hrayr Karapetian expressed
such an opinion at a November 2 press conference. According to him, the
matters took such a turn that the Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister took
part in the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs’ meeting. As to the Armenian
Foreign Ministry, according to H. Karapetian, its policy in the issue
of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations is too passive. "Our
Foreign Minister classes any statement of the Turks as a statement of
"internal consumption" and keeps silence, while Turkey should receive
an adequate answer from Armenia," the ARFD figure mentioned.

H. Karapetian mentioned that all structures and departments of
Armenia are obliged to act in correspondence with RA National Security
Strategy’s provisions. And, according to him, those provisions exactly
establish that Armenia’s blockade by Turkey and Azerbaijan is use
of force. In that respect, according to H. Karapetian, all norms of
the international law give Armenia a right to raise a question on
recognizing the mentioned two countries as aggressors.

H. Karapetian also touched upon the bill placed on the agenda of
the NA four-day session last week which proposes adopting a new law
On Use of Transport Means for Defence Purpose. In his words, it is
envisaged by the bill that state and self-government bodies should
provide transport means to the army during peaceful and martial
law. According to H. Karapetian, that practice also existed in the
past and now the NA should just regulate it by the law.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress