BREAKING NEWS DEAL RESCUED AS PROTOCOLS ARE SIGNED
Global Armenian calls for ‘NO PROTOCOLS’ have fallen on deaf ears as
Nalbandian puts pen to paper
ZURICH: The Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Turkey, Eduard Nalbandian
and Ahmet Davutoglu, have signed the widely-opposed Protocols to
normalise relations, overcoming an unexpected delay caused by a "last
minute hitch".
The two parties reportedly disagreed on the wording of one another’s
post-signing speeches, in which Nalbandian was to refer to the
Armenian Genocide and Davutoglu to Azerbaijan’s rights to Armenian
enclave Nagorno Karabakh – the two most-contentious issues dividing
the Caucasus neighbours.
Nalbandian did not turn up to the signing ceremony on time, but after
the efforts of foreign diplomats, believed to be led by United States
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the deal was rescued and
signed three hours later than initially planned.
In the last week, over 100,000 Armenians in Yerevan, New York, Los
Angeles, Beirut, Paris, Buenos Aires and Sydney have protested against
the Protocols.
Despite being advertised by both parties as containing "no
preconditions", the Protocols to re-establish diplomatic relations
between the Caucasus neighbours contained points which experts said
will harm the century-old battle by Armenians to have the Genocide of
over 1.5million of their ancestors recognised and adjudicated. Experts
said the Protocols also cast into doubt the right to
self-determination for the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh.
The signing of these Protocols in the face of such widespread concern
and opposition is sure to attract reactions from members of the
Armenian community within Armenia and in the Diaspora in coming days.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
