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Armenialiberty.org
Sept 17 2010
Turkey Demands Armenian `Gestures' On Karabakh
18.09.2010
Karine Simonian
Turkey continues to link the implementation of its normalization
agreements with Armenia with significant progress towards the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a Turkish Foreign
Ministry official said on Friday.
Speaking to RFE/RL's Armenian service in Ankara, the official, Selim
Yener, indicated that Ankara would settle for a partial Armenian troop
withdrawal from Azerbaijani territories surrounding Karabakh.
`It is a sensitive matter for both Armenia and Turkey, and we hope
that there could be gestures and some movements on the Armenian side
so that our parliament can go ahead and approve this important
document,' he said, referring to the two `protocols' signed by the
Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers in Zurich a year ago.
`We do hope that if Armenia could take some steps with regard to
removing some of its troops from certain regions, I think this would
be extremely helpful,' added Yener. `This would show that Armenia is
taking peace efforts seriously and that it is going in the right
direction.'
Official Yerevan is bound to reject this precondition. Armenian
leaders have argued all along that neither protocol makes any
reference to the Karabakh conflict, a view shared by the United
States, the leading international backer of the Turkish-Armenian
rapprochement.
Visiting Yerevan in July, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
urged Ankara to unconditionally implement the normalization deal. `Now
the ball is in the other court,' she said.
Turkish officials insist, however, that the protocols contain an
implicit linkage between their parliamentary ratification and the
Karabakh issue. `We have to think of everything in a context,' said
Yener. `The protocols were not signed in isolation from reality.'
From: A. Papazian
Sept 17 2010
Turkey Demands Armenian `Gestures' On Karabakh
18.09.2010
Karine Simonian
Turkey continues to link the implementation of its normalization
agreements with Armenia with significant progress towards the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a Turkish Foreign
Ministry official said on Friday.
Speaking to RFE/RL's Armenian service in Ankara, the official, Selim
Yener, indicated that Ankara would settle for a partial Armenian troop
withdrawal from Azerbaijani territories surrounding Karabakh.
`It is a sensitive matter for both Armenia and Turkey, and we hope
that there could be gestures and some movements on the Armenian side
so that our parliament can go ahead and approve this important
document,' he said, referring to the two `protocols' signed by the
Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers in Zurich a year ago.
`We do hope that if Armenia could take some steps with regard to
removing some of its troops from certain regions, I think this would
be extremely helpful,' added Yener. `This would show that Armenia is
taking peace efforts seriously and that it is going in the right
direction.'
Official Yerevan is bound to reject this precondition. Armenian
leaders have argued all along that neither protocol makes any
reference to the Karabakh conflict, a view shared by the United
States, the leading international backer of the Turkish-Armenian
rapprochement.
Visiting Yerevan in July, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
urged Ankara to unconditionally implement the normalization deal. `Now
the ball is in the other court,' she said.
Turkish officials insist, however, that the protocols contain an
implicit linkage between their parliamentary ratification and the
Karabakh issue. `We have to think of everything in a context,' said
Yener. `The protocols were not signed in isolation from reality.'
From: A. Papazian