WHO WILL RATIFY FIRST TURKISH-ARMENIAN COOPERATION PROTOCOLS?
The Messenger
Feb 18 2010
Georgia
The ruling Republican Party in Armenia has announced that Armenia
should make the first move in ratifying the Turkey-Armenia protocols.
Vice Speaker of Armenia’s Parliament Samvel Nikoian has said that
ratification cannot be simultaneous, and if Armenia waits for
Turkey to take the first steps it could be waiting a long time. He
also highlighted that normalisation of the relations between the two
countries will create a positive atmosphere in the entire region which
could result in the positive resolution of the Karabakh conflict to
the benefit of Armenia.
Committees of the Armenian Parliament will begin discussing this
issue. Initially Armenia insisted that it would start ratifying the
protocols only after Turkey did, and if Turkey prolonged the process
so would Armenia. Yerevan also threatened to renounce the signature
of the Armenian PM on the protocols, which were signed on November 10,
2009 in Zurich, if this happened.
It looks like Armenia desperately wants to ratify the protocols and
open its borders with Turkey and will therefore do its best to make
this happen. Turkey could take advantage to this desire by trying to
force Armenia to leave the Azeri territories it is occupying. Whether
this happens will depend on how deep Turkey’s commitment to Azerbaijan
is.