news.az, Azerbaijan
Jan 15 2010

Armenia needs protocols more than Turkey – Azerbaijani analyst
Fri 15 January 2010 | 12:34 GMT Text size:

Fikret Sadikhov Turkish parliament will not pass these protocols as
easily as in Yerevan, said political scientist Fikret Sadikhov.

"The hasty decision by the Armenian Constitutional Court to approve
the Turkish-Armenian protocols signed in Zurich proved the Armenians’
intention to open borders with Turkey. However, these protocols are
not so vital for Turkey. Turkey is able to live and develop without
the ratification of the protocols,’ political scientist Fikret
Sadikhov said at a meeting of political scientists in the Novosti
international press centre on Friday.

`The fact that Serzh Sargsyan got the decision of the Constitutional
Court despite the unwillingness of part of the political establishment
of Armenia and the diaspora shows the difficult condition of Armenia’s
economic and foreign policy which Sargsyan hopes to improve through
improving ties with Turkey. Meanwhile, these protocols are merely
rhetoric for Azerbaijan as they do not reflect Azerbaijan and its
problems,’ he said.

According to Sadikhov, the Turkish parliament will not pass these
protocols easily. `The pro-Azerbaijani positions are strong in the
Turkish parliament, two Turkish parties represented in parliament
speak in support of Azerbaijan’s position on the Karabakh issue and I
do hope that the Turkish parliament will not ratify the protocols
until Armenia withdraws from the occupied Azerbaijani lands,’ he said.

He thinks that if the Turks yield to external pressure and ratify the
Zurich protocols, this will affect Azerbaijani interests as it will
hamper the peaceful withdrawal of Armenia’s occupying troops from
Karabakh.

Novosti Azerbaijan