TURKEY FINDS FAULT WITH ARTICLES 4 AND 5 OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT’S DECISION

Tert.am
17:39 ~U 20.01.10

The Constitutional Court’s January 12 decision established that
the Armenian-Turkish Protocols conform to Armenia’s Constitution,
but, according to various Turkish media, Article 5 of its six-page
decision makes reference to Armenia’s Declaration of Independence in
a way that has provoked Turkey.

"The RA Constitutional Court also finds that the provisions of the
Protocol on Development of Relations between the Republic of Armenia
and the Republic of Turkey cannot be interpreted or applied in the
legislative process and application practice of the Republic of
Armenia as well as in the interstate relations in a way that would
contradict the provisions of the Preamble to the RA Constitution and
the requirements of Paragraph 11 of the Declaration of Independence
of Armenia," read the non-official English translation of the court’s
reasoning, reports Turkish Weekly.

Paragraph 11 of the Declaration of Independence is the section that
has ignited Ankara’s anger. It states, "The Republic of Armenia stands
in support of the task of achieving international recognition of the
1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia."

Another source of uneasiness in Ankara, report Turkish media, is
Article 4 of the court decision, which stipulates that the mutual
obligations being undertaken by the protocols are under the principles
of international law, exclusive of a bilateral interstate nature and
cannot concern any third party. That provision is interpreted as a
neutralization of Turkey’s linking the opening of the border with
Armenia to a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.