ARMENIAN SIDE ADOPTED WAIT-AND-SEE APPROACH: HURRIYET
news.am
Dec 18 2009
Armenia
Armenia-Turkey rapprochement is seemed to be reaching critical point
since Protocols’ signing, December 18 Hurriyet Daily reads.
The daily recalls that neither of the sides ratified the documents
yet, quoting Vigen Sargsyan, the Deputy Chief of Presidential Staff
as saying, "March will be the point of no return. Each morning it
will be more difficult to do this than the day before." According
to the source, he is "sending a strong signal that Yerevan might
withdraw its signatures from the protocols if Turkey does not push
them through its Parliament."
"Ankara says it will not ratify the protocols, which would open the
border between two countries in two months, until it sees progress
in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," the article reads.
Presently a group of Turkish journalists is on a visit to Yerevan and
according to Hurriyet, the most frequent question they are asked is
when or whether Turkey will ratify the Protocols.
"The Armenian side has adopted a wait-and-see approach until Turkey
takes a step in that direction.
Diplomatic sources say Turkey’s approach is negatively impacting
the solution process in the frozen conflict, which is a legacy of
the Soviet Union, and if Turkey wants to make a contribution to the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, then it should stop
linking the two processes together.
This time the new deadline is April 24, 2010, which marks the 95th
anniversary of the Armenian commemoration. Sources say that the closer
this date comes, the more difficult it will be to ratify the protocols
in Yerevan with wide public support," the Hurriyet concludes.