ARMENIA TO RATIFY PROTOCOLS AFTER TURKEY – PRESIDENT

Mediamax
Feb 10 2010
Armenia

Yerevan. 10 February: Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan stated in
London today that the parliament of the country will ratify the
Armenian-Turkish protocols only after they are ratified by Turkey,
the Armenian president said this while delivering a speech at Royal
Institute for Foreign Relations (Chatham House), a Mediamax special
correspondent reports from London.

"As the leader of the party in majority at the Armenian parliament,
I guarantee that the protocols will be ratified by the parliament if
they are ratified by Turkey", Sargsyan said.

The Armenian president recalled the statements made by the
Turkish leadership that the parliament of their country is an
independent agency and the results of the ratification process
are "unpredictable". "Against the background of such statements,
the ratification of protocols by our parliament prior to similar
decision to be made by Turkey will look strange. And what will happen
if the Armenian parliament ratifies the protocols, but the Turkish
parliament refuses to do so?" Sargsyan said. He expressed the hope
that the president and the prime minister of Turkey will display the
will and will persuade the members of their party, who are in the
majority in the parliament to ratify the protocols.

The Armenian president reminded that there is no unambiguous attitude
towards the process of normalizing the Armenian-Turkish relations
in Armenian political circles and in society. "In particular, this
process costs us the loss of our important partner from the ruling
coalition", the president said.

Answering the question of participants in the meeting, the Armenian
president said that he does not understand the Turkish leaders
who are paying their attention to the decision made by the Armenian
Constitutional Court, which recognized the protocols in accordance with
the country’s constitution. "It seems that Ankara would be glad if the
court decided that the protocols contradict the Armenian constitution",
Sargsyan noted.

"Protocols are legal documents with clear formulations and I do not
think that one should try to find the implications or hidden meaning in
them. We have never stated that we refuse the international recognition
of the Armenian genocide and we are ready to bear responsibility for
what is written in the protocols. We cannot bear responsibility for
thoughts and suppositions of our partners in talks", Sargsyan said.

Sargsyan said that the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations
will make "a huge contribution to the establishment of peace and
stability in the region". "However, if our fears turn out to be true
that Turkey aims to delay the process, we will stop this process",
the Armenian president said.