Interfax - Russia & CIS Military Newswire
December 15, 2017 Friday 1:53 PM MSK


Yerevan confirms intention to annul protocols on normalizing relations
with Turkey

YEREVAN. Dec 15

Armenia's intention to annul Armenian-Turkish protocols on the
normalization of bilateral relations remains unchanged, Armenian
Foreign Ministry press secretary Tigran Balayan said.

"Our position was last voiced by the Armenian foreign minister in
Athens. And it remains unchanged," Balayan told Interfax on Thursday.

"As for other issues, including Karabakh, Turkey has no business
[there], and it had better stay out," he said.

In his speech given at the Greek Foreign Ministry on Wednesday, the
Armenian foreign minister said that Yerevan would annul the
Armenian-Turkish protocols by spring 2018.

The process of normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations began on the
Armenian president's initiative in fall 2008, he said. As a result,
protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations and on the
development of relations to be ratified by the two countries'
parliaments were signed by the foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey
in Zurich in October 2009.

"To this day, these documents have not been ratified, because Turkey
has set groundless preconditions that contradict the letter and spirit
of the protocols. The president of Armenia said in September that
Armenia would declare the protocols invalid because there is no
positive headway on their implementation, and we will greet spring
2018 without these protocols," Nalbandian said.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement earlier on Thursday
saying that Ankara remains committed to the protocols and is ready to
ratify them if there is a favorable political atmosphere and peace in
Southern Caucasus.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in the UN General Assembly
session in New York in September that Yerevan was ready to annul the
Armenian-Turkish protocols.