SERGEY MINASYAN: U.S. WILL INCREASE PRESSURE ON TURKEY SO THAT IT WILL RATIFY PROTOCOLS

PanARMENIAN.Net
05.02.2010 16:07 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The U.S play the most active role in the
Armenian-Turkish reconciliation, but Russia is also playing a
positive role in this dialogue not hampering the process itself,
Sergey Minasyan political scientist, deputy director of Caucasus
Institute told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

In his opinion, the visit of James Steinberg in Yerevan is important.

Visit of Steinberg showed that the Armenian-Turkish relations is
a number one problem in the Caucasus for the United States. The
political scientist attached importance to the latest statements
of official Washington, which imply that the U.S. do not link the
Armenian-Turkish reconciliation with the Karabakh settlement .

Accordingly, the Armenian political scientist predicts increased
American pressure on Turkey.

"The decision of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the U.S. House
of Representatives to bring to vote a resolution on the Armenian
Genocide on March 4 completely fits into this logic. Everything
indicates that the U.S. switched to concrete steps, and the U.S. are
likely to increase pressure on Turkey so that it will ratify Protocols.

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 conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in
1988 as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the
final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from
1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, Nagorno
Karabakh and Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions
of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control
of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks
mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress