PHILIP GORDON’S WEAK GUIDANCE TO ARMENIA
News.Az
Mon 25 January 2010 | 06:28 GMT
After the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s negative reaction to the
wording of Armenian Constitutional Court ruling on the application of
Turkish-Armenian protocols, the US Assistant Secretary of State, head
of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon said that
"the court decision permits the protocols, as they were negotiated
and signed, to move forward towards parliamentary ratification,
and does not appear to limit or qualify them in any way."
News.Az asked Ilgar Mammadov, Baku-based political commentator,
who has been supportive of the Turkish-Armenian rapprochement by
strongly welcoming the signing of Turkish-Armenian protocols in
November 2009, to interpret the meaning of such controversial view
of the ratification process.
According o him, Mr. Gordon is so much interested in immediate
achievements at talks which his Bureau was proud of that he tends to
ignore the weaknesses of the guidance his agency had provided to the
Armenian partners.
"The logic of his statement is clear, although not pronounced:
international agreements of a state are superior to local laws.
However, if one morning Washington and Tehran sign a deal to be
ratified by parliaments on the establishment of diplomatic relations
and opening trade between two countries in exchange to Tehran’s
refusal to enrich plutonium, and then in the evening Iranian Supreme
Court prohibits Iranian citizens to engage in activities that would
impede the creation of nuclear weapon, Mr. Gordon would view such a
process quite differently," said Mr. Mammadov.
Mr. Mammadov added that normalization of relations between Turkey
and Armenia is in the benefit of Azerbaijan despite the opposition
being voiced by official Baku.
"However, the normalization should solve the problem of Armenian
territorial claims and associated historical allegations against
Turkey, and not give Yerevan an opportunity to reconfirm them,"
he concluded.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress