ARMENIA SUSPENDS RATIFICATION OF ACCORDS
Jumana Al Tamimi

Gulf News
menia-suspends-ratification-of-accords-1.616925
Ap ril 23 2010
UAE

Yerevan blames Turkey for not honouring its part

Yerevan: Efforts to normalise relations between Armenia and Turkey
have not ended with Yerevan announcing that it has suspended the
ratification of the peace accords with Ankara, officials and analysts
said.

However, the move which many describe as a political tactic, aims to
put more pressure on Turkey rather than Armenia to endorse the peace
protocol, they said.

Shortly after the announcement, Armenian officials stated that the
move doesn’t mean the cancellation of earlier accords between the
two countries. They blamed Turkey for not honouring its part of the
commitment. Both countries accused each other of putting obstacles
in the way of ratifying the protocol.

"Since they [Turkey] intentionally delay the ratification, we decided
to temporarily suspend the protocol, and we said when Turkey starts
ratification, Armenia will do that," Hovig Aprahamian, Speaker of
Armenia’s parliament, said.

"Both [US Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton and [French President
Nicholas] Sarkozy told us [earlier], you ratify it first and we will
put pressure on Turkey to sign it. Our response was are you sure
Turkey will ratify these?," he told a group of visiting journalists
from the UAE.

Armenia has not received an answer, he added.

On the other hand, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said after
the Armenian announcement that his country is still committed to the
rapprochement process.

"We have frequently expressed our commitment to the protocol in
word and in spirit and our goal is to fulfil them," he told a news
conference in Ankara.

"We have expressed clearly, to all parties concerned, our intention
to achieve comprehensive peace in the region."

The two countries have agreed late last year to establish diplomatic
relations and to open their borders, closed since 1993, when Armenia
and Azerbaijan, went to war over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The
signed protocols are supported by the Americans, Europeans and the
Russians. But they were not endorsed by either country’s parliament.

Turkish-Armenian reconciliation process goes back to 2008 when Turkish
President Abdullah Gul attended a soccer match in Yerevan at the
invitation of the Armenian president Serj Sargisian. The then-called
soccer diplomacy was opposed in both countries.