TURKEY SHOULD TAKE ACTION BEFORE MARCH 4

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
17.02.2010 14:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Rafik Petrosyan, a member of the Republican Party of
Armenia, said Turkey should take up Armenia’s initiative to normalize
relations.

"Armenian National Assembly will certainly ratify the Protocols after
the Turkish parliament does so. Moreover, it may open debates on the
documents ahead of Turkey," Mr. Petrosyan told reporters on Wednesday.

He also said that March 4, the day of US House panel vote on the
Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.252, can be viewed as a reasonable
term for ratification of the Protocols by Turkey.

"If Turkey doesn’t take action Armenia will double its efforts fort he
worldwide recognition of the Armenian Genocide," Mr. Petrosyan said,
adding that the relations between the two countries will worsen in
case the rapprochement fails.

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 resolution affirming the U.S. record on the Armenian
Genocide (H.Res.252) was formally introduced in the U.S. House of
Representatives by Reps. Adam Schiff (D.-CA), George Radanovich
(R.-CA), Frank Pallone, Jr. (D.-NJ), and Mark Kirk (R.-Ill) in 2009.

It currently has 134 co-sponsors. U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee
Chairman, Howard Berman has scheduled a vote of his panel on the
Armenian Genocide Resolution, H.Res.252, for March 4.