ARMENIAN PARTIES REJECT TALKS WITH TURKEY BY IVAN WATSON AND YESIM COMERT
CNN News
April 22 2010
Moscow, Russia (CNN) — — The ruling coalition of political parties
in Armenia’s parliament has called for suspending talks aimed at
normalizing relations with Turkey, Armenia’s southern neighbor and
long-time adversary.
The decision marks a setback to a U.S., European and Russian-supported
peace process aimed at reopening the border between Armenia and Turkey
and the establishment of embassies in both countries’ capitals.
In a statement published on Thursday, Armenia’s parliamentary coalition
accused Turkey of failing to ratify internationally agreed peace
protocols before an agreed deadline.
The protocols were signed by the foreign ministers from Armenia and
Turkey last October, under the watchful eyes of U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at
a ceremony that was nearly canceled because of a dispute between the
Turks and the Armenians.
Armenian President Serge Sarkisian has since made a visit to Turkey
to attend a football match between the two countries, but critics
say there has been little movement since then toward ratifying the
protocols before parliament.
The parliamentary coalition says the Turkish side’s stance is
"unacceptable," particularly statements by Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan making ratification of peace protocols "directly
dependent upon the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in
Azerbaijan."
Christian Armenia and Muslim Azerbaijan fought a bitter war over
the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is now controlled
by Armenian troops. The front line is still volatile, with periodic
deadly clashes.
The Turkish government says is still formulating a response to the
Armenian parliamentary decision.
"We are evaluating the statement, its contents and what it means. Our
foreign minister is having meetings with the ministry officials,"
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin told CNN.
Thursday’s announcement comes just two days before Armenians around
the world will commemorate the 1915 massacre of hundreds of thousands
of ethnic Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.
Turkey officially denies a genocide took place in the last days of
the crumbling Ottoman Empire.
Sarkisian, is expected to give a speech addressing the struggling
Turkish-Armenian peace process later on Thursday.