ARF ISSUES STATEMENT ON PROTOCOLS COURT RULING
Asbarez
Jan 13th, 2010
YEREVAN (ARF Press Office)-The Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s
governing Bureau on Wednesday issued a statement on the January 11
decision by Armenia’s Constitutional Court to uphold the legality of
the government’s controversial normalization agreements with Turkey.
We present the translated text of the statement.
Fellow compatriots
On January 12, 2010 the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia
examined the constitutionality of the responsibilities undertaken by
the Armenian side according to the signed Armenian-Turkish protocols.
Thus began the process of ratifying the Protocols that endanger out
national interests and contradict the founding principles of our state,
as stipulated in the Constitution.
The ARF had, from the start, rejected the three main points in
the protocols which it considered to be preconditions aiming at:
undermining the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide;
legitimizing the current border between Armenia and Turkey; and linking
the normalization of the relations between Armenia and Turkey with
the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Azerbaijan’s favor.
We were, and still are, convinced that the signed protocols contradict
with Armenia’s constitution to a degree sufficient to provide the
Constitutional Court with valid legal basis to consider the protocols
unconstitutional.
While, unfortunately that didn’t occur, we are convinced that the
mounting resentments expressed in Armenia and the Diaspora against
the protocols is yielding results. First, as the decision reached by
the Constitutional Court also indicates, the signing of the protocols
is the result of the poor performance of Armenia’s Foreign Minister.
Second, the Constitutional Court has indicated that the establishment
of relations with Turkey should be strictly diplomatic in nature,
and has accepted the opening of the border between Armenia and Turkey.
Moreover the Constitutional Court did refer to the expressed concerns
regarding the protocols and has provided enough legal basis for Armenia
to express reservations regarding some of the points in the protocols.
The Constitutional Court specifically passed a decision that the
protocols are considered to be a bilateral agreement between Armenia
and Turkey and that the Republic of Armenia could not speak on behalf
of a third party, in this case Nagorno-Karabakh.
On the issue of the Genocide, any responsibilities that Armenia should
undertake based on the provisions of the protocols can not contradict
the preamble of Armenia’s constitution and the 11th point of Armenia’s
declaration of independence which explicitly mentions that the Republic
of Armenia will support the international recognition of the Genocide
of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and in Western Armenia.
As far as defining the border between Armenia and Turkey is concerned,
the protocols do not have any legal premise to delineate those
boundaries. Hence this is still an open issue, and one that could be
resolved solely based on a future inter-state agreement.
Having the Constitutional Court’s decision, the ARF is convinced that
the decision could diffuse the dangers expressed in the protocols if
at the time of the ratification, the reservations expressed by the
Constitutional Court become an integral part of the ratified protocols.
Fellow compatriots,
We consider that the decision reached by the Constitutional Court is
the successful end product of a struggle that has brought together
the efforts of the ARF, other political and social groups as well as
the whole nation. However the challenge still, lies ahead. We have
to increase our efforts exponentially and force the authorities of
Armenia to bring this process to a conclusion
Our final goal is to normalize Armenian -Turkish relations without
undermining the interests of the nation and the state and specifically
without giving any concessions from the rightful demands of generations
of our people.
Armenian Revolutionary Federation January 12, 2010