TURKISH FM: YEREVAN HOLDS BACK ON TURKEY-ARMENIA PROTOCOL

Trend
Feb 9 2010
Azerbaijan

Turkish foreign minister said that Armenia holds back on Ankara-Yerevan
protocols.

"Armenia does not show positive position towards the Turkey-Armenia
protocols," he told Trend News.

Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers, Ahmet Davutoglu and Edward
Nalbandian, signed the Ankara-Yerevan protocols in Zurich Oct. 10.

Turkey and Armenia reached an agreement to launch "internal political
consultations" on Aug. 31 and signed the "Protocol on the Establishment
of Diplomatic Relations and Protocol on the Development of Bilateral
Relations," the Turkish Foreign Ministry reported.

Jan.12, 2009, the Armenian Constitutional Court said that the
Ankara-Yerevan protocols comply with the Armenian Constitution.

However, the court reported that creation of a joint commission to
study the 1915 events is unnecessary and Armenia will never give up
its demand for recognition of the genocide.

Davutoglu said he expressed his concern over the Armenian
Constitutional Court’s amendments to the protocols during a meeting
with his Armenian counterpart in London.

"The Armenian Constitutional Court’s decision is not constructive
and following these changes the relations between the two countries
are again back to the past level," he added.

He said if Armenia does not abandon its non-constructive position
and if Ankara considers that the normalization process goes awry,
then the process will stop.

Davutoglu said that when Armenia raises the genocide issue it obstructs
the normalization process.