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OPPOSITION: NO VOTE FOR PROTOCOLS UNLESS NAGORNO OCCUPATION ENDS
Hurriyet Daily News
Sept 3 2009
Turkey
The two main opposition parties have said they will not back the
normalization process with Armenia without the withdrawal of Armenian
forces from Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"We will not go to vote in favor of the protocols at Parliament
unless the occupation ends," Deniz Baykal, leader of the Republican
People's Party, or CHP, said during a party meeting late Wednesday,
the Anatolia news agency reported.
Baykal emphasized that although the protocols set a clear dateline
for the opening of the common border with Armenia, it does not give
assurances on Armenia's withdrawal from Azerbaijani lands. Recalling
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's promise to Azerbaijan not to
open the border before the Nagorno-Karabakh problem was settled, Baykal
said the government obviously ran into a contradiction with the move.
He also said taking the protocols to Parliament were obligatory and
not a government pledge to the opposition. "The issues that were
introduced as Armenia's compromises have no validity in fact. What we
have to see is our compromises. It's not certain on what conditions
these compromises were made," he said.
Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP,
accused the ruling party of ignoring Turkey's national interests
and its closest ally, Azerbaijan. "We'll not vote in favor of
the protocols," he said, in a written statement. However, as the
ratification of international documents requires a simple majority,
the ruling party will have no need for the support of the opposition.
Hurriyet Daily News
Sept 3 2009
Turkey
The two main opposition parties have said they will not back the
normalization process with Armenia without the withdrawal of Armenian
forces from Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"We will not go to vote in favor of the protocols at Parliament
unless the occupation ends," Deniz Baykal, leader of the Republican
People's Party, or CHP, said during a party meeting late Wednesday,
the Anatolia news agency reported.
Baykal emphasized that although the protocols set a clear dateline
for the opening of the common border with Armenia, it does not give
assurances on Armenia's withdrawal from Azerbaijani lands. Recalling
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's promise to Azerbaijan not to
open the border before the Nagorno-Karabakh problem was settled, Baykal
said the government obviously ran into a contradiction with the move.
He also said taking the protocols to Parliament were obligatory and
not a government pledge to the opposition. "The issues that were
introduced as Armenia's compromises have no validity in fact. What we
have to see is our compromises. It's not certain on what conditions
these compromises were made," he said.
Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP,
accused the ruling party of ignoring Turkey's national interests
and its closest ally, Azerbaijan. "We'll not vote in favor of
the protocols," he said, in a written statement. However, as the
ratification of international documents requires a simple majority,
the ruling party will have no need for the support of the opposition.