TURKEY DEMANDS LEGAL GUARANTEES FROM ARMENIA, WARNS US ON GENOCIDE BILL
Asbarez
Jan 27th, 2010
ANKARA-Despite assurances from Armenia that the Constitutional
Court ruling will not affect the Turkey-Armenia protocols process,
Turkey is demanding written legal guarantee from Yerevan, while,
at the same time, sending a warning to the US on the passage of the
pending Armenian Genocide resolution in Congress, reported the Turkish
Today’s Zaman newspaper on Tuesday.
The newspaper added that the Turkish Foreign Ministry already has
begun drafting such a document that delineates the Turkish position
on what it calls the "incompatibilities" of Armenia’s Constitutional
Court ruling.
Ankara is hoping to get the US and Switzerland to join this process
and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is planning to discuss
the matter with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during an upcoming
scheduled meeting in London later this month. Ankara also plans to
apply to the OSCE Minsk Group and European Union.
The newspaper reported that Davutoglu has told his Armenian counterpart
Eduard Nalbandian that Turkey would not ratify the protocols without
legal guarantees from Yerevan.
Armenia’s high court, on January 12, ruled that the Armenia-Protocols
were in line with Armenia’s Constitution, but highlighted that the
protocols had no link to the Karabakh conflict, and could not hinder
Armenia’s efforts to garner international recognition for the Armenian
Genocide as outlined in Armenia’s Declaration of Independence.
Turkey reacted last week, with its foreign ministry saying that the
Constitutional Court ruling amounted to preconditions being set by
Armenia. Since the beginning of the protocols process, Turkey has
publicly and on numerous occasions said that the normalization of
Armenia-Turkey relations would not move forward without a Karabakh
conflict resolution, which favors Azerbaijan.
In an interview with the Turkish NTV channel, Davutoglu also warned
that if the Armenian Genocide resolution were to be discussed or passed
by the Congress, the Armenia-Turkey rapprochement would break down.