It’s Turkey, Not Armenia, That’s Hindering Rapprochement: Amberin Zaman

Tert.am
18:26 – 22.01.10

Ankara doesn’t stand behind its signature on the Armenian-Turkish
Protocols, said Turkey correspondent for The Economist and Taraf
columnist, Amberin Zaman, who also happens to be married to U.S.
Embassy in Armenia’s Deputy Chief of Mission Joseph Pennington.

`Turkey’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the following to his
Armenian counterpart, Edward Nalbandian: `Stand behind your signature
on the Protocol. We expect a display of political will from the
Armenian side. Otherwise, a completely new situation will arise.’
However, it’s Turkey who isn’t standing behind their signature,’ said
Zaman, adding that though there was no clause in the Protocols which
referred to Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey has nevertheless connected that
issue with the process of establishing Armenia-Turkey relations.

The Taraf columnist also noted that such a situation wouldn’t have
come about if the Protocols were implemented immediately. `If instead
of presenting the Protocols in parliament, they were put into effect,
this unpleasant `new state of affairs’ wouldn’t have come about, and
the process wouldn’t have been hindered,’ writes Zaman, adding that
the final point to this issue was that after the United States, Russia
made a statement that the establishment of Armenia-Turkey relations
shouldn’t be tied to the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.