ARMENIA: COURT GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO PEACE PLAN WITH TURKEY
Marianna Grigoryan

EurasiaNet
Jan 12 2010
NY

Armenia’s Constitutional Court on January 12 approved a draft agreement
for reconciliation with Turkey, but heated opposition to the agreement
shows no sign of dying down.

As protestors in downtown Yerevan yelled for "No concessions to
the Turks!," the Court, guarded by a police line, ruled that the
"[o]bligations" contained in the protocols signed on October 10, 2009
by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Turkish President Abdullah
Gul" comply with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. [For
details, see the Eurasia Insight archive.]

The protocols will next go to Armenia’s National Assembly for a vote
on ratification. Turkey’s parliament has yet to ratify the documents.

The protests and the Court’s prolonged deliberation – Sargsyan
submitted the protocols for review on November 19, 2009 – sparked
some speculation that a decision by the body’s nine judges might be
delayed. But the final verdict took few Armenians by surprise. The
Court is not known for going against the Sargsyan administration’s
policies.

Controversy over whether or not the protocols will hold Armenia to
so-called "pre-conditions" – an expression that embodies multiple
popular misgivings – nonetheless looks set to continue.

Many Armenians fear that the protocols presume an Armenian withdrawal
from territories surrounding the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh
that are claimed by Turkish ally Azerbaijan. Others take issue with
the formation of a commission of historians to review materials
related to Ottoman Turkey’s 1915 slaughter of ethnic Armenians; an
event most Armenians see as an indisputable case of genocide. Still
others worry that the protocols’ call for the recognition of the
Armenian and Turkish borders means the permanent loss of lands in
Turkey once held by Armenia.

Ruling Republican Party of Armenia spokesperson Eduard Sharmazanov
counters that the reconciliation process is proceeding according to
plan, and presents no cause for alarm.

"We will never agree to establish ties [with Turkey] with any
preconditions, as we have repeatedly declared," Sharmazanov told
EurasiaNet.

The Court found that the protocols’ terms "have an exclusively
bilateral, interstate character and cannot relate to or be attributed
to a third party. . ."

But that finding will most likely do little to persuade domestic
critics of the peace process. The nationalist Armenian Revolutionary
Federation – Dashnaktsutiun and 14 other political groups have
announced plans for a joint lobbying effort to persuade parliament
to vote against ratification. Protestors earlier burned copies of
the documents outside the Constitutional Court.

"The Armenian authorities got carelessly stuck in the Armenian-Turkish
process, but cannot master it," fumed Armenian Revolutionary Federation
– Dashnaktsutiun member Armen Rustamian at a January 11 rally in
Yerevan. "The earlier they realize their mistakes, the easier it will
be to avoid the threats looming over the country and the people."

Armenia’s government coalition holds a clear majority in parliament,
but that tactical advantage does not discourage key members of one
minority opposition party allied with the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation-Dashnaktsutiun.

Oppositi on Heritage Party parliamentary faction leader Stepan Safarian
charged that Turkey’s ongoing references to Nagorno Karabakh leave
but one option open for Armenia’s opposition, despite government
reassurances that concessions on the issue will not be made. "We will
do our best both in the parliament and outside it to suspend this . .

. unpatriotic process," Safarian pledged.

Editor’s Note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter based
in Yerevan.