Tweet
SARKISIAN AGAIN THREATENS TO SCRAP TURKISH-ARMENIAN ACCORDS
by Emil Danielyan
Armenialiberty.org
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24312948.html
Aug 30 2011
President Serzh Sarkisian on Tuesday again threatened to formally annul
Armenia's normalization agreements with Turkey if Ankara continues
to link their parliamentary ratification with the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.
He indicated that Yerevan will wait for no more than several months
for an unconditional normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations,
which is envisaged by the two protocols signed in 2009.
"The Turkish side has to understand that these protocols are not an
open-ended opportunity," Sarkisian told an annual meeting in Yerevan
of Armenian ambassadors and other senior diplomats.
"Many of our [foreign] friends advised us to wait until the [June]
parliamentary elections in Turkey," he said. "So in the next several
months we will see whether there has been a change of approaches
in Turkey after those elections. But frankly speaking, the past two
months have not given us grounds for optimism."
"On the basis of those observations, we will also decide our further
steps regarding the protocols," he warned.
Sarkisian already threatened to withdraw Yerevan's signature from
the protocols in January. He said that the Turks "destroyed" the
Western-backed rapprochement between the two historical foes with
their Karabakh linkage.
Foreign Ministers Eduard Nalbandian of Armenia (L) and Ahmet Davutoglu
of Turkey sign landmark agreements to normalize Turkish-Armenian
relations in Zurich.
Shortly after the signing of the protocols in Zurich attended by
top diplomats from the United States, Europe and Russia, Ankara
made clear that the Turkish parliament will not ratify them without
decisive progress in the Karabakh peace process. Azerbaijan welcomed
this condition.
Sarkisian responded by freezing the process of protocol ratification
by Armenia's parliament in April 2010. In a televised address to the
nation, he said he decided not to scrap the agreements altogether at
the request of the United States and other foreign powers.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised this stance as
"very statesmanlike" when she visited Yerevan in July 2010. Clinton
reportedly pressed the Turkish government to unconditionally comply
with the protocols during a visit to Istanbul last month.
However, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish leaders
have continued to state that Turkey will not establish diplomatic
relations and open its border with Armenia until a Karabakh settlement
acceptable to Azerbaijan.
Tensions between the two neighboring states rose further later in July
after Ankara accused Sarkisian of voicing Armenian territorial claims
to Turkey. Erdogan publicly demanded that the Armenian leader apologize
for the "provocation." Officials in Yerevan rejected the accusations.
Sarkisian insisted on Tuesday that despite the lack of tangible
results, he does not regret embarking on a policy of rapprochement
with Turkey shortly after taking office in April 2008. "I think that
those present in this audience understand that that initiative has
boosted Armenia's international standing and dispelled our partners'
illusions about a new and contemporary Turkey," he said.
Sarkisian has been accused by critics in Armenia and its worldwide
Diaspora of making too many concessions to the Turks in the
normalization process and gaining little in return. One of them,
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation party, quit his coalition
government in protest in 2009.
by Emil Danielyan
Armenialiberty.org
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24312948.html
Aug 30 2011
President Serzh Sarkisian on Tuesday again threatened to formally annul
Armenia's normalization agreements with Turkey if Ankara continues
to link their parliamentary ratification with the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.
He indicated that Yerevan will wait for no more than several months
for an unconditional normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations,
which is envisaged by the two protocols signed in 2009.
"The Turkish side has to understand that these protocols are not an
open-ended opportunity," Sarkisian told an annual meeting in Yerevan
of Armenian ambassadors and other senior diplomats.
"Many of our [foreign] friends advised us to wait until the [June]
parliamentary elections in Turkey," he said. "So in the next several
months we will see whether there has been a change of approaches
in Turkey after those elections. But frankly speaking, the past two
months have not given us grounds for optimism."
"On the basis of those observations, we will also decide our further
steps regarding the protocols," he warned.
Sarkisian already threatened to withdraw Yerevan's signature from
the protocols in January. He said that the Turks "destroyed" the
Western-backed rapprochement between the two historical foes with
their Karabakh linkage.
Foreign Ministers Eduard Nalbandian of Armenia (L) and Ahmet Davutoglu
of Turkey sign landmark agreements to normalize Turkish-Armenian
relations in Zurich.
Shortly after the signing of the protocols in Zurich attended by
top diplomats from the United States, Europe and Russia, Ankara
made clear that the Turkish parliament will not ratify them without
decisive progress in the Karabakh peace process. Azerbaijan welcomed
this condition.
Sarkisian responded by freezing the process of protocol ratification
by Armenia's parliament in April 2010. In a televised address to the
nation, he said he decided not to scrap the agreements altogether at
the request of the United States and other foreign powers.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised this stance as
"very statesmanlike" when she visited Yerevan in July 2010. Clinton
reportedly pressed the Turkish government to unconditionally comply
with the protocols during a visit to Istanbul last month.
However, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish leaders
have continued to state that Turkey will not establish diplomatic
relations and open its border with Armenia until a Karabakh settlement
acceptable to Azerbaijan.
Tensions between the two neighboring states rose further later in July
after Ankara accused Sarkisian of voicing Armenian territorial claims
to Turkey. Erdogan publicly demanded that the Armenian leader apologize
for the "provocation." Officials in Yerevan rejected the accusations.
Sarkisian insisted on Tuesday that despite the lack of tangible
results, he does not regret embarking on a policy of rapprochement
with Turkey shortly after taking office in April 2008. "I think that
those present in this audience understand that that initiative has
boosted Armenia's international standing and dispelled our partners'
illusions about a new and contemporary Turkey," he said.
Sarkisian has been accused by critics in Armenia and its worldwide
Diaspora of making too many concessions to the Turks in the
normalization process and gaining little in return. One of them,
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation party, quit his coalition
government in protest in 2009.