TURKEY INITIATES LEGAL CONSULTATIONS OVER RA CONSTITUTIONAL COURT’S RULING

Tert.am
14:31 ~U 27.01.10

Turkey would like to have legal guarantees from Armenia concerning the
RA Constitutional Court’s ruling on the Armenia-Turkey Protocols. For
that reason, Ankara is beginning legal consultations over the issue.

Ankara wants the US and Switzerland to get involved in the
consultations, reports Turkish daily Today’s Zaman. While the US
has no direct involvement in the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement,
Switzerland is a mediator.

Despite Yerevan’s statement to Turkey that the RA Constitutional
Court’s ruling will not affect the normalization process, Ankara
insists that that approach be included in a document that has
compulsory legal force.

In an interview with Today’s Zaman, a Turkish diplomat said that
if the Armenian side thinks the Court’s ruling will not affect the
provisions previously agreed upon in the Protocols, then it needn’t
avoid including that position in written from.

According to the Turkish publication, Ankara has already informed
all the sides involved in the Armenia-Turkey rapprochement process
that it will not take any steps toward ratification of the Protocols
without a written guarantee.

OSCE Minsk Group and EU will also be informed about these consultations
by Ankara.

When the RA Constitutional Court ruled that the Protocols are in
line with the Constitution, Ankara publicly stated that it found
"some restricting provisions and preconditions" and declared that
the RA Constitutional ruling "runs counter to the letter and spirit
of the Protocols and undermines the whole negotiation process."