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ARMENIA WITHDRAWS PEACE PROTOCOLS WITH TURKEY FROM PARLIAMENT
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 17 2015
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan has recalled from the Armenian
parliament protocols on the normalization of ties and establishment
of diplomatic relations with Turkey.
In a statement issued on Monday, Sarksyan said he had asked
parliamentary Speaker Galust Sahakian to return the protocol to him.
The Armenian president explained the reasoning behind his withdrawal
of the protocols, saying that "the Turkish government has no political
will, distorts the spirit and letter of the protocols and continues
its policy of setting preconditions." Sarksyan also said that on the
eve of commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the mass killings
of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during World War I, "the policy of
denial and rewriting history" is getting a renewed impulse in Ankara.
The protocols to normalize ties between Turkey and Armenia were signed
in Zurich on Oct. 10, 2009 with the aim of establishing diplomatic
relations and opening the two countries' land border. The process
had been deadlocked by nationalists on both sides and Ankara and
Yerevan have accused each other of trying to rewrite the texts and
setting new conditions. Neither parliament has approved the deal,
which would bring huge economic gains for poor, landlocked Armenia,
burnish Turkey's credentials as an EU candidate and boost its clout
in the strategic South Caucasus.
"We were ready for a fully-fledged settlement in our relations with
Turkey by ratifying these protocols, but we were also ready for
failure," Sarksyan said in a letter that had been sent to parliament,
his press service said. "We have nothing to hide and it should be
clear for the international community whose fault it was that the
last closed European border was not open," he said.
Ankara denies claims that the events of 1915 amount to genocide,
arguing that both Turks and Armenians were killed when Armenians
revolted against the Ottoman Empire during World War I in collaboration
with the Russian army, which was then invading Eastern Anatolia. Every
year on April 24, Armenians around the world commemorate the Armenian
victims who died at the end of World War I in Ottoman Turkey. Armenians
are preparing for the centennial commemoration events this year
in April.
Erdogan last month invited Sargsyan to the 100th anniversary
celebration of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I to commemorate the
Armenian and Turkish soldiers who fought and died together side-by-side
during the war. In response to Erdogan's invitation to the event, which
is to be held on April 24 this year, Sarksyan has said that before
organizing such a commemorative event, Turkey should remember its far
more important obligation toward the whole of humanity to recognize
and condemn the Armenian "genocide" at the end of World War I.
"Turkey continues its traditional policy of denialism. Year by year,
improving its tools of history distortion, this time Turkey marks
the anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli [Canakkale] on April 24
for the first time, while it began on March 18, 1915, and lasted
till late January 1916. Furthermore, the Allies' land campaign --
Gallipoli land battle -- took place on April 25, 1915," said Sarksyan
in his open letter to Erdogan.
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_armenia-withdraws-peace-protocols-with-turkey-from-parliament_372813.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 17 2015
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan has recalled from the Armenian
parliament protocols on the normalization of ties and establishment
of diplomatic relations with Turkey.
In a statement issued on Monday, Sarksyan said he had asked
parliamentary Speaker Galust Sahakian to return the protocol to him.
The Armenian president explained the reasoning behind his withdrawal
of the protocols, saying that "the Turkish government has no political
will, distorts the spirit and letter of the protocols and continues
its policy of setting preconditions." Sarksyan also said that on the
eve of commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the mass killings
of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during World War I, "the policy of
denial and rewriting history" is getting a renewed impulse in Ankara.
The protocols to normalize ties between Turkey and Armenia were signed
in Zurich on Oct. 10, 2009 with the aim of establishing diplomatic
relations and opening the two countries' land border. The process
had been deadlocked by nationalists on both sides and Ankara and
Yerevan have accused each other of trying to rewrite the texts and
setting new conditions. Neither parliament has approved the deal,
which would bring huge economic gains for poor, landlocked Armenia,
burnish Turkey's credentials as an EU candidate and boost its clout
in the strategic South Caucasus.
"We were ready for a fully-fledged settlement in our relations with
Turkey by ratifying these protocols, but we were also ready for
failure," Sarksyan said in a letter that had been sent to parliament,
his press service said. "We have nothing to hide and it should be
clear for the international community whose fault it was that the
last closed European border was not open," he said.
Ankara denies claims that the events of 1915 amount to genocide,
arguing that both Turks and Armenians were killed when Armenians
revolted against the Ottoman Empire during World War I in collaboration
with the Russian army, which was then invading Eastern Anatolia. Every
year on April 24, Armenians around the world commemorate the Armenian
victims who died at the end of World War I in Ottoman Turkey. Armenians
are preparing for the centennial commemoration events this year
in April.
Erdogan last month invited Sargsyan to the 100th anniversary
celebration of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I to commemorate the
Armenian and Turkish soldiers who fought and died together side-by-side
during the war. In response to Erdogan's invitation to the event, which
is to be held on April 24 this year, Sarksyan has said that before
organizing such a commemorative event, Turkey should remember its far
more important obligation toward the whole of humanity to recognize
and condemn the Armenian "genocide" at the end of World War I.
"Turkey continues its traditional policy of denialism. Year by year,
improving its tools of history distortion, this time Turkey marks
the anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli [Canakkale] on April 24
for the first time, while it began on March 18, 1915, and lasted
till late January 1916. Furthermore, the Allies' land campaign --
Gallipoli land battle -- took place on April 25, 1915," said Sarksyan
in his open letter to Erdogan.
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_armenia-withdraws-peace-protocols-with-turkey-from-parliament_372813.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress