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AzerNews Weekly, Azerbaijan
Jan 12 2010
Top Armenian court approves Turkey accord, sparks protests
12-01-2010 22:59:39
A top Armenian court on Tuesday approved the agreement signed with
Turkey in 2009 in a bid to end decades of hostility between the two
neighbors.
Gagik Arutunyan, chairman of Armenia's Constitutional Court, said
after the closed-door hearing that the decision to declare the October
2009 accord constitutional was final and cannot be challenged, local
media reported.
Tensions mounted in the courtroom after the ruling was announced, with
opponents shouting `Traitors' and `You are not Armenians'.
Under Armenia's laws, the president is required to send the signed
international agreements to the Constitutional Court, which determines
whether or not the documents are legitimate. Once approved, the
agreements are sent to parliament for ratification.
The Armenian and Turkish governments signed two protocols to establish
diplomatic relations and reopen the two countries' shared border on
October 10 in Zurich, in a bid to normalize ties. The documents also
envision setting up a commission of historians to research the alleged
World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
The signing of the protocols with Ankara has been met with a great
deal of public resentment in Armenia. The ultra-nationalist
Dashnaktsutyun party protested outside the Constitutional Court
building as the protocols were being reviewed. The protesters demanded
revoking the agreement, which they deem as detrimental to Armenia.
Armen Rustamian, a Dashnaksutyun executive, said the Armenian
opposition would continue opposing the reconciliation accord and voice
protests in parliament.
In Turkey, no work is apparently underway to approve the agreement
signed with Armenia. Onur Oymen of the opposition Republican People's
Party, who sits on the parliamentary foreign affairs commission, said
the protocols were sent to the Grand National Assembly on October 21,
2009, and further to the commission, and no steps have since been
taken. According to the lawmaker, the protocols have not even been
submitted to the commission members.
`No indications are currently seen of the protocols being discussed in
the Grand National Assembly,' Oymen said. `The core position here is
that they cannot be endorsed before progress is made in resolving the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict. We won't even
put the issue on discussion.'
Turkey and Armenia do not have diplomatic relations and the border
between the two countries has been closed since 1993. Armenia's
occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan, Turkey's ally, and
Yerevan's claims on the 1915 genocide have been obstacles to normal
relations between the two countries.
Oymen said a concern is mounting in Turkey that as the month of April
approaches, when Armenians mark the anniversary of the alleged
genocide, the Turkish government is likely to come under pressure to
approve the agreement signed with Yerevan.
`I can't say how much of that pressure the government can withstand.
But, to my mind, the authorities will not dare to put those protocols
on discussion,' the MP opined.
The approval of the protocols on mending ties by the Armenian court
overlapped with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to
Russia. Vladimir Yevseyev, a Russian analyst, believes this is not
accidental. According to him, Turkish-Armenian normalization is
stalling, and such visits represent an attempt to revitalize the
process.
`In my view, the Turkish-Armenian [normalization] process is
deadlocked, and a new round of one-of-the-kind negotiations is being
started to revive it. It is clear to everyone that agreeing upon
something with Armenia necessitates Russia's getting involved.
Presently, the sides are facing a peculiar impasse: in order not to
lose Azerbaijan and uphold its political image, Turkey is seeking
Armenian concessions on the Upper Garabagh issue, while the Armenian
leadership is not undertaking concessions due to the challenging
situation at home, and, as a result, the border remains shut.'
Yevseyev believes that Moscow is interested in the opening of the
Turkey-Armenia border. Russia has a lot of property in Armenia which
could yield hefty profits if the frontier opens up. The analyst said
that overall, Moscow would like to persuade Armenia to make
concessions on Garabagh settlement, but it is rather unclear how much
this country may concede.
But other analysts say the border opening does not promise
considerable benefits for Russia and it is useless to expect Moscow to
put pressure on
Yerevan.
Vafa Guluzada, an Azerbaijani former state adviser and political
analyst, says the United States is behind the process of reopening the
Turkey-Armenia border. Therefore, Washington is doing everything in
its power to achieve approval of the normalization agreement in both
countries' parliaments.
Guluzada said he had expected the signing and parliamentary approval
of the protocols from the beginning.
`Now, different ways will be explored to substantiate Turkey's taking
this step. Turkey is keen on Moscow's making concessions and for at
least one of the occupied Azerbaijani districts to be freed. But I
don't believe Moscow will agree to this, as this occupation is a
building erected by Russia. If one of its bricks is taken out, the
whole building will collapse. So, Turkey shouldn't hope that having
achieved liberation of just one district, it will be able to open its
border with Armenia without remorse.
`Turkey will be prompted to open the border under these very
conditions. I had said from the very outset that the border opening
has no bearing on the Garabagh problem, because the U.S. knows all too
well that Russia will never allow liberation of Upper Garabagh and the
adjacent regions.'
The Garabagh conflict flared up in the late 1980s on Armenia's
territorial claims. Armenia has been occupying over 20 percent of
Azerbaijan's territory since the early 1990s, trampling on
international law. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994 after a
lengthy war. Efforts by the US, Russian and French mediators have been
largely fruitless but peace talks are underway.
Regarding protests by the Armenian opposition and diaspora at the
Constitutional Court's endorsing the accord with Turkey, Guluzada
called them `a show.'
Rasim Musabayov, another Azerbaijani analyst, believes the protocols'
approval will benefit Armenia. He said that if the decision had not
been passed, Armenia `would have exposed itself before the world
community.'
`As for parliamentary approval of the protocols, this may take time.
Armenia will be trying to carry out this process in parallel with
Turkey. The Armenian opposition and diaspora may stage protests over
this. But in any case, the Armenians are trying to show that `we have
made major concessions, look how difficult it was to do that.'*
Jan 12 2010
Top Armenian court approves Turkey accord, sparks protests
12-01-2010 22:59:39
A top Armenian court on Tuesday approved the agreement signed with
Turkey in 2009 in a bid to end decades of hostility between the two
neighbors.
Gagik Arutunyan, chairman of Armenia's Constitutional Court, said
after the closed-door hearing that the decision to declare the October
2009 accord constitutional was final and cannot be challenged, local
media reported.
Tensions mounted in the courtroom after the ruling was announced, with
opponents shouting `Traitors' and `You are not Armenians'.
Under Armenia's laws, the president is required to send the signed
international agreements to the Constitutional Court, which determines
whether or not the documents are legitimate. Once approved, the
agreements are sent to parliament for ratification.
The Armenian and Turkish governments signed two protocols to establish
diplomatic relations and reopen the two countries' shared border on
October 10 in Zurich, in a bid to normalize ties. The documents also
envision setting up a commission of historians to research the alleged
World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
The signing of the protocols with Ankara has been met with a great
deal of public resentment in Armenia. The ultra-nationalist
Dashnaktsutyun party protested outside the Constitutional Court
building as the protocols were being reviewed. The protesters demanded
revoking the agreement, which they deem as detrimental to Armenia.
Armen Rustamian, a Dashnaksutyun executive, said the Armenian
opposition would continue opposing the reconciliation accord and voice
protests in parliament.
In Turkey, no work is apparently underway to approve the agreement
signed with Armenia. Onur Oymen of the opposition Republican People's
Party, who sits on the parliamentary foreign affairs commission, said
the protocols were sent to the Grand National Assembly on October 21,
2009, and further to the commission, and no steps have since been
taken. According to the lawmaker, the protocols have not even been
submitted to the commission members.
`No indications are currently seen of the protocols being discussed in
the Grand National Assembly,' Oymen said. `The core position here is
that they cannot be endorsed before progress is made in resolving the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict. We won't even
put the issue on discussion.'
Turkey and Armenia do not have diplomatic relations and the border
between the two countries has been closed since 1993. Armenia's
occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan, Turkey's ally, and
Yerevan's claims on the 1915 genocide have been obstacles to normal
relations between the two countries.
Oymen said a concern is mounting in Turkey that as the month of April
approaches, when Armenians mark the anniversary of the alleged
genocide, the Turkish government is likely to come under pressure to
approve the agreement signed with Yerevan.
`I can't say how much of that pressure the government can withstand.
But, to my mind, the authorities will not dare to put those protocols
on discussion,' the MP opined.
The approval of the protocols on mending ties by the Armenian court
overlapped with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to
Russia. Vladimir Yevseyev, a Russian analyst, believes this is not
accidental. According to him, Turkish-Armenian normalization is
stalling, and such visits represent an attempt to revitalize the
process.
`In my view, the Turkish-Armenian [normalization] process is
deadlocked, and a new round of one-of-the-kind negotiations is being
started to revive it. It is clear to everyone that agreeing upon
something with Armenia necessitates Russia's getting involved.
Presently, the sides are facing a peculiar impasse: in order not to
lose Azerbaijan and uphold its political image, Turkey is seeking
Armenian concessions on the Upper Garabagh issue, while the Armenian
leadership is not undertaking concessions due to the challenging
situation at home, and, as a result, the border remains shut.'
Yevseyev believes that Moscow is interested in the opening of the
Turkey-Armenia border. Russia has a lot of property in Armenia which
could yield hefty profits if the frontier opens up. The analyst said
that overall, Moscow would like to persuade Armenia to make
concessions on Garabagh settlement, but it is rather unclear how much
this country may concede.
But other analysts say the border opening does not promise
considerable benefits for Russia and it is useless to expect Moscow to
put pressure on
Yerevan.
Vafa Guluzada, an Azerbaijani former state adviser and political
analyst, says the United States is behind the process of reopening the
Turkey-Armenia border. Therefore, Washington is doing everything in
its power to achieve approval of the normalization agreement in both
countries' parliaments.
Guluzada said he had expected the signing and parliamentary approval
of the protocols from the beginning.
`Now, different ways will be explored to substantiate Turkey's taking
this step. Turkey is keen on Moscow's making concessions and for at
least one of the occupied Azerbaijani districts to be freed. But I
don't believe Moscow will agree to this, as this occupation is a
building erected by Russia. If one of its bricks is taken out, the
whole building will collapse. So, Turkey shouldn't hope that having
achieved liberation of just one district, it will be able to open its
border with Armenia without remorse.
`Turkey will be prompted to open the border under these very
conditions. I had said from the very outset that the border opening
has no bearing on the Garabagh problem, because the U.S. knows all too
well that Russia will never allow liberation of Upper Garabagh and the
adjacent regions.'
The Garabagh conflict flared up in the late 1980s on Armenia's
territorial claims. Armenia has been occupying over 20 percent of
Azerbaijan's territory since the early 1990s, trampling on
international law. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994 after a
lengthy war. Efforts by the US, Russian and French mediators have been
largely fruitless but peace talks are underway.
Regarding protests by the Armenian opposition and diaspora at the
Constitutional Court's endorsing the accord with Turkey, Guluzada
called them `a show.'
Rasim Musabayov, another Azerbaijani analyst, believes the protocols'
approval will benefit Armenia. He said that if the decision had not
been passed, Armenia `would have exposed itself before the world
community.'
`As for parliamentary approval of the protocols, this may take time.
Armenia will be trying to carry out this process in parallel with
Turkey. The Armenian opposition and diaspora may stage protests over
this. But in any case, the Armenians are trying to show that `we have
made major concessions, look how difficult it was to do that.'*