Interfax, Russia
Jan 20 2010

Armenia clarifying Turkey’s criticism of CC ruling on bilateral protocols

YEREVAN Jan 20

Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian is planning to meet with
his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu to discuss a statement made by
the Turkish Foreign Ministry about the Armenian-Turkish protocols.

"I am going to contact my counterpart Mr. Davutoglu to express my
astonishment, and also to clarify which part of the Armenian
Constitutional Court ruling was seen by Turkey as setting
pre-conditions and how this ruling conflicts with the underlying goal
of the protocols," Nalbandian said, the Armenian Foreign Ministry’s
press office told Interfax.

"I hope by making this statement Turkey is not trying to justify
continuing attempts to set pre-conditions and to disguise the
inappropriate protraction of the protocol’s ratification," the
Armenian foreign minister said.

On Tuesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement
criticizing the Armenian Constitutional Court’s ruling that the
Armenian-Turkish protocols were constitutional. Several provisions in
the full text of the ruling contain pre-conditions inconsistent with
the spirit and content of the protocols, according to the Turkish
statement.

The ruling questions the need to discuss the protocols and hampers
efforts to achieve the main purpose of these documents, the Turkish
Foreign Ministry said.

In particular, the Armenian court ruling stated that the document
imposes obligations that are purely bilateral and may not extend to
third countries.

The Court stated that the opening of the actual Armenian-Turkish
border is the priority provision in these protocols and that all other
obligations will have no effect without open borders.