TURKEY HOLDS FIRM STANCE ON NORMALIZATION OF TIES WITH ARMENIA
PanARMENIAN.Net
26.01.2010 19:54 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey wishes the current normalization process with
Armenia to follow the spirit of the Protocols signed, said Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
"Turkey holds a firm stance on the issue and will prevent any attempts
to harm the process," he told NTV company in an interview.
According to him, Ankara pursues 3 goals in the current process:
normalization of ties with Armenia, eradication of prejudices about
Armenian and Turkish nations and establishment of peace on global
and regional levels.
Touching upon Karabakh conflict settlement, he said there was certain
progress in peace talks.
"It’s better to settle the problem than freeze it," Davutoglu stressed.
The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of
the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet
Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks
held through Swiss mediation.
On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of
Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country’s Organic Law.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has issued the following official statement
on Armenia-Turkey Protocols:
"The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia has declared
its decision of constitutional conformity on the Protocols between
Turkey and Armenia signed on 10 October 2009 with a short statement
on 12 January 2010. The Constitutional Court has recently published
its grounds of decision. It has been observed that this decision
contains preconditions and restrictive provisions which impair the
letter and spirit of the Protocols."
"The said decision undermines the very reason for negotiating these
Protocols as well as their fundamental objective. This approach
cannot be accepted on our part," runs the statement posted on Turkish
MFA website.
The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in
1988 as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the
final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from
1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, Nagorno
Karabakh and Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions
of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control
of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks
mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.