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ARMENIAN PROTESTERS DENOUNCE DEAL ON TURKEY TIES
AFP
09 oct 09
YEREVAN -- Several thousand Armenians took to the streets of the
capital Yerevan on Friday to protest against the government's plans
to sign a landmark deal on normalising ties with Turkey.
Carrying placards reading "No Concessions to the Turks," the protesters
were marching from central Yerevan to a hilltop memorial to World War
I-era massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule, an AFP reporter saw.
Armenia and Turkey are expected to sign two landmark protocols Saturday
to normalise ties and reopen their border, in a major step towards
ending nearly a century of hostility over the massacres.
In a statement handed over to Armenia's presidency, the protesters
urged President Serzh Sarkisian not to sign the deal.
"These protocols contain some very dangerous points for our nation
and for our state, which threaten our interests," the statement
said. The protesters said Sarkisian would "be held responsible for
the unpredictable consequences" if the deal is signed.
The protests were organised by a coalition of opposition parties,
including the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), which quit the ruling coalition earlier this year
over the reconciliation efforts with Turkey.
After they are signed, the protocols will still need to be ratified
by the two countries' parliaments. Despite some vocal opposition,
Armenia's ruling coalition has backed the protocols, making their
approval by the country's national assembly almost a guarantee.
Turkey has long refused to establish ties with Armenia over Yerevan's
international campaign to have the early 20th-century massacres
recognised as genocide, a label Ankara categorically rejects.
Turkey also closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
ally Azerbaijan over Yerevan's backing of ethnic Armenian separatists
in the breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region.
AFP
09 oct 09
YEREVAN -- Several thousand Armenians took to the streets of the
capital Yerevan on Friday to protest against the government's plans
to sign a landmark deal on normalising ties with Turkey.
Carrying placards reading "No Concessions to the Turks," the protesters
were marching from central Yerevan to a hilltop memorial to World War
I-era massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule, an AFP reporter saw.
Armenia and Turkey are expected to sign two landmark protocols Saturday
to normalise ties and reopen their border, in a major step towards
ending nearly a century of hostility over the massacres.
In a statement handed over to Armenia's presidency, the protesters
urged President Serzh Sarkisian not to sign the deal.
"These protocols contain some very dangerous points for our nation
and for our state, which threaten our interests," the statement
said. The protesters said Sarkisian would "be held responsible for
the unpredictable consequences" if the deal is signed.
The protests were organised by a coalition of opposition parties,
including the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(Dashnaktsutyun), which quit the ruling coalition earlier this year
over the reconciliation efforts with Turkey.
After they are signed, the protocols will still need to be ratified
by the two countries' parliaments. Despite some vocal opposition,
Armenia's ruling coalition has backed the protocols, making their
approval by the country's national assembly almost a guarantee.
Turkey has long refused to establish ties with Armenia over Yerevan's
international campaign to have the early 20th-century massacres
recognised as genocide, a label Ankara categorically rejects.
Turkey also closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with
ally Azerbaijan over Yerevan's backing of ethnic Armenian separatists
in the breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region.