FOOTBALL DIPLOMACY PROVES INEFFICIENT

PanARMENIAN.Net
10.02.2010 15:34 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish
relations has hit a deadlock, according to Ruben Mehrabyan, expert
at the Armenian Center of Political and International Studies.

"Football diplomacy proved inefficient," he told reporters on
Wednesday. "Politicians can to their heart’s content reiterate that
Nagorno Karbakh conflict settlement process in not interconnected
with the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation but the linkage is obvious."

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, NKR 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.