Trend, Azerbaijan
Jan 23 2010

American and Turkish officials mull Turkish-Armenian protocols

23.01.2010 14:29
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu mulled the situation over
the Armenian-Turkish protocols with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton today. Davutoglu expressed Turkey’s dissatisfaction with the
Armenian Constitutional Court’s amendments to the protocol, Anadolu
reported.

During a telephone conversation with Clinton, Davutoglu discussed the
Ankara-Yerevan protocols signed between the two countries to establish
diplomatic relations and noted that Turkey dissatisfied with the
Armenian Constitutional Court’s intervention to the Turkish-Armenian
protocols.

Jan. 19, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement which
indicated that the Armenian Constitutional Court’s decision contains
"pre-conditions and restrictive provisions that contrary to the letter
and spirit of the protocols. The Turkish Foreign Ministry also
stressed that "the decision undermines the very motive of negotiations
on the protocols, their fundamental purpose and can not be accepted."

Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that the
process of normalizing the Ankara-Yerevan relations can be suspended
if the Armenian Constitutional Court does not reverse its decision on
the protocols.

Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey were broken due to
Armenian claims of an alleged genocide and its occupation of
Azerbaijani lands. Their border closed in 1993.