ALEXANDER SOTNICHENKO: ARMENIA PLAYS INTERESTING DIPLOMATIC GAME

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.01.2010 16:24 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia’s Constitutional Court shouldn’t have passed
a single-package decision over RA-Turkish Protocols, according to
Alexander Sotnichenko, leading analyst at St. Petersburg Center for
Contemporary Middle East.

"I don’t think the CC decision is impossible to find on the Internet,"
he told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

At that, he noted that Turkey disapproves RA Constitutional Court’s
decision to distinguish primary and secondary clauses in Protocols.

"The most vulnerable moment for Turkey is that the Constitutional Court
gave primary role to border opening and establishment of diplomatic
ties," the Russian expert said, adding that Armenia actually refuses
to recognize Turkey’s territorial integrity, unless these conditions
are met.

Criticizing Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement, Sotnichenko said
Ankara should closely study RA CC decision and indicate the clauses
it disapproves.

"Armenia’s playing an interesting diplomatic game. RA CC decision
proves that the country is ready for ratifying the Protocols, with
Turkey being responsible for procrastinations," he noted, adding that
Armenia conducts wrong diplomacy in relation to Turkey.

The protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation.

On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.

In its official comments on RA CC decision over Armenia-Turkey
Protocols, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry states that the document contains
preconditions and restrictions which violate the letter and spirit
of the Protocols.

"On January 12, Armenia’s Constitutional Court found the Protocols
conformable to the country’s basic law. The decision, available in
short text format, undermines the essence and objective of current
negotiations. Such approach cannot be acceptable to us," says the
statement posted on Turkish Foreign Ministry’s Web site.