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news.am, Armenia
Jan 29 2011
Armenian FM says Turkey failed to observe pacta sunt servanda principle
January 29, 2011 | 07:24
Turkey's position is not just unconstructive, but even destructive
both in the viewpoint of this conflict and normalization of
Armenia-Turkey relations, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
said in an interview with Russia Today.
`You know that it was initiated by the Armenia's President to start
the process of normalizing Armenia-Turkey relations. Yes, we started
the process; we conducted negotiations and reached the stage of
signing protocols, having agreed with the Turkish side that we were
doing it without any preconditions. But after protocols were signed,
Turkey could not bring itself to observing one of the major principles
of international law, which was born together with diplomacy - the
pacta sunt servanda principle, meaning that all the agreements are to
be implemented,' he noted.
Minister Nalbandian stressed that Armenia and Turkey signed the
protocols in the presence of Switzerland, Russia, the United States,
France, as well as members of the European Union and the Council of
Europe. And then the Turkish side has got back to the same
preconditions it was presenting before the start of this process, the
preconditions keeping normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations at a
deadlock.
`What are those preconditions? First, it's an attempt to link the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement with Armenia-Turkey relations. Russia, the
US and France - in the mediators of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement -
repeatedly made statements. The attempts to link those two processes
would harm both of them. The Turkish side is pretending that it does
not see or hear what the international community is saying,' he said.
The second point, Foreign Minister considers, is the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide. `When we started this process, we said that
genocide recognition by Turkey is not a precondition for normalization
of our relations despite the fact that Turkey has been denying
Armenian genocide for 95 years. But this cannot be Turkey's
precondition to Armenia,' he added.
Edward Nalbanidan said Armenia has been emphasizing it will never
question either the fact of Genocide, or the importance of its
international recognition. `We told Turkey, the intermediaries and all
the countries supporting the process of normalization of
Armenia-Turkey relations about it. Unfortunately Turkey has returned
to the language of preconditions that was used at the beginning of the
process. By doing so it took a counterproductive position both in
settling the Armenia-Turkey relations and the settlement of
Nagorno-Karabakh issue, because as I have mentioned before, the
international community is saying that linking these two processes may
affect the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,' he stated.
From: A. Papazian
Jan 29 2011
Armenian FM says Turkey failed to observe pacta sunt servanda principle
January 29, 2011 | 07:24
Turkey's position is not just unconstructive, but even destructive
both in the viewpoint of this conflict and normalization of
Armenia-Turkey relations, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
said in an interview with Russia Today.
`You know that it was initiated by the Armenia's President to start
the process of normalizing Armenia-Turkey relations. Yes, we started
the process; we conducted negotiations and reached the stage of
signing protocols, having agreed with the Turkish side that we were
doing it without any preconditions. But after protocols were signed,
Turkey could not bring itself to observing one of the major principles
of international law, which was born together with diplomacy - the
pacta sunt servanda principle, meaning that all the agreements are to
be implemented,' he noted.
Minister Nalbandian stressed that Armenia and Turkey signed the
protocols in the presence of Switzerland, Russia, the United States,
France, as well as members of the European Union and the Council of
Europe. And then the Turkish side has got back to the same
preconditions it was presenting before the start of this process, the
preconditions keeping normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations at a
deadlock.
`What are those preconditions? First, it's an attempt to link the
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement with Armenia-Turkey relations. Russia, the
US and France - in the mediators of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement -
repeatedly made statements. The attempts to link those two processes
would harm both of them. The Turkish side is pretending that it does
not see or hear what the international community is saying,' he said.
The second point, Foreign Minister considers, is the recognition of
the Armenian Genocide. `When we started this process, we said that
genocide recognition by Turkey is not a precondition for normalization
of our relations despite the fact that Turkey has been denying
Armenian genocide for 95 years. But this cannot be Turkey's
precondition to Armenia,' he added.
Edward Nalbanidan said Armenia has been emphasizing it will never
question either the fact of Genocide, or the importance of its
international recognition. `We told Turkey, the intermediaries and all
the countries supporting the process of normalization of
Armenia-Turkey relations about it. Unfortunately Turkey has returned
to the language of preconditions that was used at the beginning of the
process. By doing so it took a counterproductive position both in
settling the Armenia-Turkey relations and the settlement of
Nagorno-Karabakh issue, because as I have mentioned before, the
international community is saying that linking these two processes may
affect the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,' he stated.
From: A. Papazian