ARMENIA-TURKEY RAPPROCHEMENT ISSUE GETS MORE AND MORE DIFFICULT

PanARMENIAN.Net
28.01.2010 17:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Now we are approaching the moment when things get
more and more difficult, said Vigen Sargsyan, deputy chief of staff
to the Armenian president in an interview to The Wall Street Journal.

"Pressure on the Armenian president to abandon the effort is building
strongly as the next annual April 24 U.S. presidential commemoration
of the 1915 genocide approaches, creating a tight Armenian schedule
to see the protocols ratified," he stated.

Turkish officials, by contrast, talk about an open-ended process that
could last a year or more if necessary. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu also recently expressed anger at a decision by Armenia’s
constitutional court that he said in effect puts conditions on the
deal-a claim Mr. Sargsyan dismissed.

Mr. Sargsyan said that while Armenia’s government is sending
ratification papers for the deal to parliament, it is also preparing
legislation to enable the president to withdraw his signature from
treaties. "If this opportunity is lost it will push the whole region
back, not to where we started when talks began but beyond that," said
Mr. Sargsyan. He said trust between the two sides would be destroyed.

The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation.

On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has issued the following official
statement on Armenia-Turkey Protocols: "The Constitutional Court of
the Republic of Armenia has declared its decision of constitutional
conformity on the Protocols between Turkey and Armenia signed
on 10 October 2009 with a short statement on 12 January 2010. The
Constitutional Court has recently published its grounds of decision. It
has been observed that this decision contains preconditions and
restrictive provisions which impair the letter and spirit of the
Protocols.

The said decision undermines the very reason for negotiating these
Protocols as well as their fundamental objective. This approach cannot
be accepted on our part."