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Armenia Halts Ratification Of Protocols On Diplomatic Ties With Turk

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  • Armenia Halts Ratification Of Protocols On Diplomatic Ties With Turk

    ARMENIA HALTS RATIFICATION OF PROTOCOLS ON DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH TURKEY

    ITAR-TASS, Russia
    February 16, 2015 Monday 08:17 PM GMT+4

    YEREVAN February 16.

    Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on Monday asked the country's
    parliament speaker to withdraw from the parliament's agenda accords
    meant to restore diplomatic ties with Turkey

    In a letter to Parliament Speaker Galust Sahakyan, Sargsyan said
    that Armenia would not ratify the protocols on the establishment of
    diplomatic relations and development of bilateral relations, earlier
    submitted to Armenia's National Assembly for ratification, because of
    the "preconditions" that Turkey was putting in place before ratifying
    its part of the deal.

    "About six years have passed since the protocols between Armenia and
    Turkey were signed," the president said, noting Armenia's "consistent"
    efforts to bring the accords into being.

    "But we must point to a lack of political will among Turkish
    authorities, distortion of the letter and spirit of the protocols and
    continuous attempts to lay down preconditions," he said, adding that
    ahead of the 2015 centennial commemoration of the Armenian genocide,
    a policy of genocide denial and editing history "was gaining a new
    momentum".

    "Therefore, I have made a decision to recall from the National
    Assembly the protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations
    and development of relations between Armenia and Turkey, signed in
    Zurich on October 10, 2009," Sargsyan said.

    The protocols aim to establish diplomatic ties between the countries
    and re-open their common border, which has been closed since 1993.

    Even though Armenia and Turkey share a 330-kilometre-long border,
    the neighbours have no diplomatic ties.

    Relations between the countries have been overshadowed by the mass
    killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One. Armenians
    have campaigned for the killings to be recognised internationally as
    an act of genocide - and more than 20 countries have done so. Turkey
    admits that many Armenians were killed but says the deaths were part
    of the widespread fighting that took place in World War One.

    In another sign of tensions, relations have been complicated by
    Turkish support for Azerbaijan in its armed conflict with Armenia
    over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

    As preconditions for normalising bilateral relations, Ankara
    urged Yerevan to stop pressing for the international recognition
    of the Armenian genocide as well as to pull out its forces from
    Nagorno-Karabakh.

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