PARLIAMENT ADDRESSES ARMENIAN PULLOUT FROM TURKEY ACCORD
Sargis Harutyunyan, Karine Kalantarian
23.02.2010
ntent/article/1966347.html
The National Assembly began debating on Tuesday a government bill
that would make it easier for Armenia to annul its normalization
agreements with Turkey if Ankara continues to delay their ratification.
The proposed amendments to an Armenian law on international treaties
envisage the suspension or termination of agreements signed by Yerevan
before their entry into force.
President Serzh Sarkisian announced his intention to enact such
amendments in December in response to Turkish leaders’ continuing
statements making the ratification of the Turkish-Armenian "protocols"
conditional on the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh. He made clear
that Yerevan will walk away from the deal if Ankara fails to implement
it within a "reasonable" time frame.
Addressing the parliament, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
effectively admitted that the amendments were drafted on Sarkisian’s
orders. "The president of the republic made a statement on and I have
nothing to add to it," he said.
Opposition and independent lawmakers criticized the initiative,
saying that Armenian law and international conventions signed by
Yerevan already allow for the abrogation of international treaties.
"I am sure that our legislation in no way restricts the president’s
authority to suspend the process of terminating the ratification of
any treaty," said former parliament speaker Tigran Torosian. "I am
more than convinced that there is absolutely no need to pass this
bill," he added.
The bill was included on the parliament agenda just days after
Sarkisian formally sent the two protocols to the parliament for
ratification. But the National Assembly and its committee on foreign
relations are in no rush to debate the documents envisaging the
establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey and
opening of their border.
A spokesman for Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), which
has a clear majority in the assembly, on Tuesday again made clear that
it will not vote on the protocols before their ratification by the
Turkish parliament. Like other Armenian officials, Eduard Sharmazanov
again avoided setting any deadlines for Turkish ratification.
David Harutiunian, the chairman of the parliament committee on legal
affairs, said Yerevan may wait for "one or two or several months"
before deciding whether to discontinue the normalization process.
"It’s not possible to give a definite answer at this point. It depends
on many processes," Harutiunian told journalists when asked what the
Armenian side means by a "reasonable timeframe."
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly reiterated on
Monday that Turkey will not implement the protocols unless there is a
breakthrough in international efforts to settle the Karabakh conflict.