Turkish parliamentarian says bringing the Armenian-Turkish protocols
into agenda now not useful

Panorama.am
14:40 16/01/2010

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Turkey’s Grand National
Assembly Murat Mercan announced that bringing the Armenian-Turkish
protocols into agenda now cannot be useful, Turkish Zaman Daily
reported.

According to the source, Turkey links the ratification of the
protocols with the advance in Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process.
Mercan highlighted that Turkey is extremely sensitive over the
protection of the rights of the Azerbaijani people and only the
efforts to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani issue can make way for the
ratification process in Turkey.

As the chairman said, the country would encounter a domestic blockade
once the protocols are brought into agenda and not approved.

`My goal is the regulation of the relations between Armenia and
Azerbaijan and taking certain steps over the settlement of the issue.
Once this fails to happen, it’s my conviction that bringing the
Armenian-Turkish protocols into agenda now cannot be useful. That’s
why, I prefer suspending the inclusion of the protocols into agenda.’

Referring to the Armenian Constitutional Court decision over the
protocols not being anti-constitutional, Murat Mercan said, the
ratification process faces the same point in both countries. The
Turkish parliamentarian expects in Armenia the protocols will be
submitted into the National Assembly in March.

Panorama.am recalls that Turkey’s government adopted the protocols and
a letter signed by the PM was addressed to the parliament, stating to
put the ratification into vote. The Foreign Affairs Committee was due
to discuss the issue within a term of 45 days. Whereas the
Armenian-Turkish protocols were submitted into the parliament still in
October last year and the 45-day term expired long ago.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress