IT IS DIFFICULT FOR TURKEY TO RATIFY PROTOCOLS UNDER THESE CONDITIONS: MURAT MERCAN
news.am
Feb 23 2010
Armenia
Recent decision by RA Constitutional Court on the Protocols created
uncertainty that might be solved in international diplomatic level,
Turkish Parliament Foreign Affairs Commission Chairman Murat Mercan
said in an exclusive interview with Today’s Zaman.
The latter considers only a win-win-win process advantageous to
Armenia, as Turkey and Azerbaijan might solve the problem.
Commenting on RA CC judgment, Mercan stated, "When we look at the
Armenian constitutional court’s ruling, we see that there are clear
provisions in the text stating how the protocols can and cannot be
interpreted. After all, it is an agreement between two countries. It
is not an international agreement. We should also analyze the Armenian
constitutional court’s decision from the perspective of international
law. International legal experts need to assess the issue. While
there are some lawyers and some circles who say the court’s decision
does not constitute the basis of the protocols, others have different
opinions. In this respect, there is uncertainty over the issue. At best
there is uncertainty. In this kind of a situation, the conditions for
implementing an international bilateral agreement are not completely
clear. Take, for example, the issue of opening borders. The court’s
decision clearly states that "opening the borders does not mean
recognition of the Treaty of Kars. I think it is very difficult for
Turkey to ratify the protocols under these conditions because there is
some level of uncertainty. There is no clarity about how the protocols
will be interpreted."
Turkish politician underlines that presently Ankara has two major
regional problems – Armenia-Turkey and Turkey-Azerbaijan relations.
"When we look at these two balances, if the ratification of the
protocols between Turkey and Armenia is going to exacerbate problems
between Armenia and Azerbaijan or severely jeopardize Azerbaijan’s
national interest, then the world should not want it, either. In
other words, it’s very important to maintain a balance," he emphasized.
Speaking of Armenia’s benefit from border opening, Mercan noted that
"Armenia might be added to the natural gas and oil pipeline routes
originating from Azerbaijan." He recalls Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev’s words that economic relations might be established between
Baku and Yerevan once the problem is solved.
Asked about status of Nagorno-Karabakh, Mercan stressed that if the
status is determined, "everyone would benefit."
"If this does not happen, in other words, if relations between Turkey
and Armenia normalize but other balances are not considered, then
the international community should be unhappy about this as it will
become harder to solve the problems, and conditions that will most
likely lead to conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan will develop,"
said the Chairman, adding that Nabucco, thus West’s energy security,
will be at risk
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
