YEREVAN PROTESTS PACE PRESIDENT’S TYING ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS TO KARABAKH
Interfax
Jen 28 2010
Russia
The Armenian Foreign Ministry has objected to comments made by PACE
President Mevlut Cavusoglu, who is Turkish, to link the settlement
of Armenian-Turkish relations to the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh.
"It is frustrating that a high-ranking representative of the Turkish
ruling party is involuntarily – or perhaps voluntarily – harming
the process of the settlement of the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh by
making such statements," Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran
Balaian told Interfax.
"As for futile attempts to tie the settlement of the Armenian- Turkish
relations to the Karabakh problem, they have long been outdated,
and the international community has already spoken on this matter,"
he said.
The parliamentary factions of the Republican Party, the Prospering
Armenia party, and Orinats Yerkir said in a joint statement on Thursday
that "the PACE president does not know very well the nature and
components of the conflict and the negotiating process surrounding it."
"He obviously prefers to ignore the fact that a peaceful settlement
is based on the observance of several principles, among them the
self- determination principle. It appears also that the president
is indifferent to issues concerning security of the Nagorno-Karabakh
people, who live under the Azeri authorities’ threat because of ongoing
propaganda of hatred and xenophobia in relation to Armenians," the
statement said.
The parliamentarians also suggested that, if need be, Armenia should
consider suspension of its participation in the PACE’s work during
Cavusoglu’s presidency.
In an earlier interview published by Azeri media, Cavusoglu tied the
normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations to the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem.