ARMENIA TO BENEFIT FROM FAILURE OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH PROCESS, NA EX-SPEAKER SAYS
news.am
Feb 15 2010
Armenia
A failure of the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation process is imminent
as never before now, the ex-speaker of the RA Parliament, MP Tigran
Torosyan told reporters on February 15.
Turkey has found itself in a critical situation, and ratifying the
Armenian-Turkish protocols is a most complicated task for Ankara.
"This is the result of Turkish Premier Recep Erdogan’s wrong political
calculations. After the Madrid Principles were publicized, he thought
the sides were close to signing the document. So he hurried to make
the Armenian-Turkish normalization process conditional on the return
of the security zone to show Azerbaijan Ankara’s interest in this
matter. However, the Madrid Principles, which provide for the return
of the territories under the Armenian side’s control, were not signed,
and Erdogan is no hostage to his own statement – he cannot go back on
his word, as this time Turkey has decided to account for its refusal
to ratify the protocols by the RA Constitutional Court’s verdict,"
Torosyan said.
He stressed that Armenia’s situation is far from being an enviable
one as well. Armenia will only lose if the protocols are ratified,
and even the Armenian MPs that are supposed to vote for the documents
under pressure are well aware of this.
"The points on mutual recognition of borders and on a subcommittee
of historians incorporated in the protocols have the implication
talked about in Turkey. Therefore the ratification of the protocols
will cause damage to Armenia," Torosyan said. "I am sure that the
ratification of the protocols will cause irreparable damage to the
process of international recognition of Armenian Genocide," added
Torosyan. Armenian will get nothing in exchange for its numerous
concessions, he said. "Even the reopening of the Armenian-Turkish
border will not be of any special benefit. Armenia and Turkey maintain
trade contacts through Georgia, do they not?" said Torosyan.
He pointed out that two factors might force Turkey into ratifying the
protocols: the possibility of the U.S. Congressional discussions of a
resolution on the Armenian Genocide, and U.S. President Barack Obama
annual address on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide. "To prevent undesirable developments, Turkey might ratify
the protocols. That is the reason why many experts believe April 24
to be the deadline for the ratification," Torosyan said. He stressed
that Armenia will benefit if the Armenian-Turkish protocols fail. "If
it happens, I hope the Armenian authorities will be more reasonable
in initiating similar processes in the future," Torosyan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
