Tweet
CLINTON'S VERSION OF THE TURKEY-ARMENIA PROTOCOLS PROCESS
Wednesday, June 11th, 2014
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN
In reading Hillary Rodham Clinton's book "Hard Choices," which hit
bookstores Tuesday, one is led to believe that she was the architect
of the dangerous Turkey-Armenia Protocols, elevating the US's role in
the doomed process, to which both Armenia and Turkey have laid claim.
In her book, Clinton claims that Turkey's "Zero Problems With
Neighbors" policy was a window through which the US could negotiate
a thaw in Turkey-Armenia relations, with hopes of opening the border
and initiating diplomatic relations between the two countries.
She claimed that "Hard-liners in both countries were implacably opposed
to compromise and put considerable pressure on each government not to
make a deal," without mentioning that her own American constituents
were vocally opposed to this sham, which was concocted by her
predecessors in the Bush Administration and behind which the Obama
Administration rabidly threw its support.
Clinton also called the Armenian Genocide issue, the recognition
of which she advocated during her failed presidential campaign, an
"emotionally charged conflict" between Turkey and Armenia.
Did Clinton Throw Nalbandian Under the Bus?
Throughout the years, Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
has prided himself on building solid relationship with the US and has
touted the close-knit relationship he developed with Clinton during
the protocol process.
Yet the short reference to Armenia in her book, which also excludes any
mention of her "personal visit" to Dzidzernagepert Genocide Memorial,
Clinton weaves a different tale of what happened in Zurich on October
10, 2009 during the official signing of the Turkey-Armenia protocols.
It emerges, and has been mentioned several times by Armenian officials,
that the contentious issue at the Zurich signing was the possibility
that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu would make remarks after
the signing that would counter the spirit of the Protocols. Clinton
asserts that it was due to her efforts that at the end--after a
three-hour delay--the protocols were signed without statements by
any of the parties.
"On October 9, I flew to Zurich to witness the accord signing
alongside the Foreign Ministers of France, Russia, and Switzerland
and the EU High Representative. The next afternoon I left my hotel
and headed to the University of Zurich for the ceremony. But there
was a problem. Nalbandian, the Armenian Minister, was balking. He
was worried about what Davutoglu planned to say at the signing and
suddenly was refusing to leave the hotel. It seemed as if months of
careful negotiations might fall apart. My motorcade turned around and
raced back to Zurich's Dolder Grand Hotel. While I waited in the car,
Phil Gordon went upstairs along with the lead Swiss negotiator to
find Nalbandian and take him to the signing ceremony. But he wouldn't
budge. Phil came back downstairs to report and joined me in the car,
which was now parked behind the hotel. I started working the phones.
On one cell I dialled Nalbandian, and I got Davutoglu on a second
line. We went back and forth for an hour, trying to bridge the
gap and coax Nalbandian out of his room. 'This is too important,
this has to be seen through, we have come too far,' I told them,"
Clinton recounts in her book.
"Finally I went upstairs to talk to Nalbandian in person. What if we
simply canceled the speaking portion of the event? Sign the document,
make no statements, and leave. Both sides agreed, and Nalbandian at
last emerged. We walked downstairs, and he got in my sedan to drive to
the university. It took another hour and a half of hand-holding and
arm-twisting at the site to get them to actually walk onstage. We
were three hours late, but at least we were there. We held the
expedited signing ceremony, and then, with a huge sense of relief,
everyone left as fast as they could. To date, neither country has
ratified the protocols, and the process remains stalled; however,
at a December 2013 conference, the Turkish and Armenian Foreign
Ministers met for two hours to discuss how to move forward, and I
still hope for a breakthrough," explained Clinton in "Hard Choices."
On Wednesday I asked Armenia's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tigran
Balayan during an online conversation about Clinton's assertions and
he pointed me to remarks Nalbandian made on April 26 of this year
when he touched upon a claim made by Davutoglu that his intended
remarks in Zurich were to be similar to the now infamous "condolence"
speech made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on April 23.
In his remarks this past April, Nalbandian, who was hosting a
delegation of the Foreign Policy Society of Finland explained that
"According to the reached agreement everyone who was to make a
statement during the signing ceremony of Protocols in Zurich should
have provided their texts of speeches beforehand. Turkey breached
this arrangement. This is the reason why the signing ceremony was
postponed so long until the Turkish side felt obliged to provide the
statement text."
"All the representatives of states participating in the signing
ceremony considered the statement text of the Turkish side as
unacceptable and suggested to hold the ceremony without any speeches
and the Turkish Foreign Minister was obliged to accept that. That
was the reason why the ceremony took place with nearly a three-hours
delay. Moreover, right after the signing ceremony the participating
Foreign Ministers made public comments, underlining that any statement
made following the signing could not have an impact on the reached
agreements enshrined in the Protocols. If the Turkish side considers
that it could reanimate today what was rejected by all four and a
half years ago, it is in vain and without perspectives," explained
Nalbandian, who added that he expressed the same sentiments to
Davutoglu when he visited Yerevan in December.
"Nobody rejects her [Clinton's] crucial role in the negotiations. She
was really very effective in mediating the signing without statements,"
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Balayan told me on Wednesday.
http://asbarez.com/123983/clinton%E2%80%99s-version-of-the-turkey-armenia-protocols-process/
Wednesday, June 11th, 2014
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN
In reading Hillary Rodham Clinton's book "Hard Choices," which hit
bookstores Tuesday, one is led to believe that she was the architect
of the dangerous Turkey-Armenia Protocols, elevating the US's role in
the doomed process, to which both Armenia and Turkey have laid claim.
In her book, Clinton claims that Turkey's "Zero Problems With
Neighbors" policy was a window through which the US could negotiate
a thaw in Turkey-Armenia relations, with hopes of opening the border
and initiating diplomatic relations between the two countries.
She claimed that "Hard-liners in both countries were implacably opposed
to compromise and put considerable pressure on each government not to
make a deal," without mentioning that her own American constituents
were vocally opposed to this sham, which was concocted by her
predecessors in the Bush Administration and behind which the Obama
Administration rabidly threw its support.
Clinton also called the Armenian Genocide issue, the recognition
of which she advocated during her failed presidential campaign, an
"emotionally charged conflict" between Turkey and Armenia.
Did Clinton Throw Nalbandian Under the Bus?
Throughout the years, Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
has prided himself on building solid relationship with the US and has
touted the close-knit relationship he developed with Clinton during
the protocol process.
Yet the short reference to Armenia in her book, which also excludes any
mention of her "personal visit" to Dzidzernagepert Genocide Memorial,
Clinton weaves a different tale of what happened in Zurich on October
10, 2009 during the official signing of the Turkey-Armenia protocols.
It emerges, and has been mentioned several times by Armenian officials,
that the contentious issue at the Zurich signing was the possibility
that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu would make remarks after
the signing that would counter the spirit of the Protocols. Clinton
asserts that it was due to her efforts that at the end--after a
three-hour delay--the protocols were signed without statements by
any of the parties.
"On October 9, I flew to Zurich to witness the accord signing
alongside the Foreign Ministers of France, Russia, and Switzerland
and the EU High Representative. The next afternoon I left my hotel
and headed to the University of Zurich for the ceremony. But there
was a problem. Nalbandian, the Armenian Minister, was balking. He
was worried about what Davutoglu planned to say at the signing and
suddenly was refusing to leave the hotel. It seemed as if months of
careful negotiations might fall apart. My motorcade turned around and
raced back to Zurich's Dolder Grand Hotel. While I waited in the car,
Phil Gordon went upstairs along with the lead Swiss negotiator to
find Nalbandian and take him to the signing ceremony. But he wouldn't
budge. Phil came back downstairs to report and joined me in the car,
which was now parked behind the hotel. I started working the phones.
On one cell I dialled Nalbandian, and I got Davutoglu on a second
line. We went back and forth for an hour, trying to bridge the
gap and coax Nalbandian out of his room. 'This is too important,
this has to be seen through, we have come too far,' I told them,"
Clinton recounts in her book.
"Finally I went upstairs to talk to Nalbandian in person. What if we
simply canceled the speaking portion of the event? Sign the document,
make no statements, and leave. Both sides agreed, and Nalbandian at
last emerged. We walked downstairs, and he got in my sedan to drive to
the university. It took another hour and a half of hand-holding and
arm-twisting at the site to get them to actually walk onstage. We
were three hours late, but at least we were there. We held the
expedited signing ceremony, and then, with a huge sense of relief,
everyone left as fast as they could. To date, neither country has
ratified the protocols, and the process remains stalled; however,
at a December 2013 conference, the Turkish and Armenian Foreign
Ministers met for two hours to discuss how to move forward, and I
still hope for a breakthrough," explained Clinton in "Hard Choices."
On Wednesday I asked Armenia's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tigran
Balayan during an online conversation about Clinton's assertions and
he pointed me to remarks Nalbandian made on April 26 of this year
when he touched upon a claim made by Davutoglu that his intended
remarks in Zurich were to be similar to the now infamous "condolence"
speech made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on April 23.
In his remarks this past April, Nalbandian, who was hosting a
delegation of the Foreign Policy Society of Finland explained that
"According to the reached agreement everyone who was to make a
statement during the signing ceremony of Protocols in Zurich should
have provided their texts of speeches beforehand. Turkey breached
this arrangement. This is the reason why the signing ceremony was
postponed so long until the Turkish side felt obliged to provide the
statement text."
"All the representatives of states participating in the signing
ceremony considered the statement text of the Turkish side as
unacceptable and suggested to hold the ceremony without any speeches
and the Turkish Foreign Minister was obliged to accept that. That
was the reason why the ceremony took place with nearly a three-hours
delay. Moreover, right after the signing ceremony the participating
Foreign Ministers made public comments, underlining that any statement
made following the signing could not have an impact on the reached
agreements enshrined in the Protocols. If the Turkish side considers
that it could reanimate today what was rejected by all four and a
half years ago, it is in vain and without perspectives," explained
Nalbandian, who added that he expressed the same sentiments to
Davutoglu when he visited Yerevan in December.
"Nobody rejects her [Clinton's] crucial role in the negotiations. She
was really very effective in mediating the signing without statements,"
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Balayan told me on Wednesday.
http://asbarez.com/123983/clinton%E2%80%99s-version-of-the-turkey-armenia-protocols-process/