US STILL HOPEFUL ON TURKEY-ARMENIA DEAL

Tert.am
23.04.10

US Assistant Secretary Philip J. Crowley said in a briefing that
the US is still hopeful that Armenia-Turkey normalization is not
eventually stalled. Below is the briefing.

MR. CROWLEY: And back to Tallinn, I just want to point out something
that Assistant Secretary Phil Gordon said a little bit earlier today
regarding Armenia, just to point out for your edification. We note
President Sargsian’s announcement that Armenia will suspend the
discussion of the protocols in its national assembly. President
Sargsian’s announcement makes clear that Armenia has not ended the
process but has suspended it until the Turkish side is ready to move
forward. We applaud President Sargsian’s decision to continue to
work towards a vision of peace, stability, and reconciliation. We
believe that the normalization process carries important benefits
for Turkey and Armenia as well as the wider Caucasus region. We will
continue to urge both sides to keep the door open to pursuing efforts
at reconciliation and normalization.

QUESTION: It’s about Armenia, recent announcement of Armenia. What do
you think about timing of it? Because President Obama will be giving
his remarks about 1915 events in two days? And I have one more question
about this. Armenian President Sargsian met with President Medvedev
just two days ago and this announcement came after that. How do you
see Russia’s role in this normalization process?

MR. CROWLEY: Let’s separate all of that. I mean, we share within the
Minsk process concerns on the – on regional stability, so I don’t –
I wouldn’t rule any outside influences into this. I don’t think we’re
surprised by the announcement by President Sargsian. We had intensive
meetings with the Armenians and the Turks here in Washington. We’ve
had ongoing contacts with Azerbaijan as well. And we understand
that there’s – we had – that both sides had reached a – I won’t say
impasse, but kind of reached a hurdle in the process regarding the
ratification of the protocols. I think we’re encouraged that neither
side has walked away from the process, but I think we all recognize
that we’ll just need some time to perhaps create some new momentum
that allows the process to move forward. So I think this is something
that the Armenians had hinted to us that they were prepared to do,
and so we’re not surprised by the announcement.

QUESTION: Is there a concern that the process collapse? I mean,
that it —

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think that we are actually encouraged that,
both in the case of Armenia and Turkey, both sides have taken pains
to make sure the process doesn’t collapse. That gives us some reason
for optimism that over the long term we can find ways to come back
to it and try to push forward the protocols again.

That was our message to both Turkey and Armenia during the sidelines
of the Nuclear Security Summit: Keep the process going; if you don’t
think that this is the right time, that’s fine, we’ll step back
and reevaluate how to move forward. So that’s why Phil Gordon made
the comments in Tallinn today that these are encouraging steps in
the sense that both sides remain committed to seeking normalization
because it is in – they recognize, I think, that it is in, ultimately,
their collective interest to do this. We just have to continue to
find a way to move forward.