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ARMENIA RECALLS PROTOCOLS ON DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH TURKEY FROM PARLIAMENT
Interfax, Russia
Feb 16 2015
YEREVAN. Feb 16
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced on Monday that he was
recalling Armenian-Turkish protocols on the normalization of relations
and establishment of diplomatic relations from parliament.
"It has been six years since the protocols were signed. All this
time Armenia has held a consistent position on the implementation
of the protocols. However, it has to be recorded that the Turkish
government has no political will, distorts the spirit and letter of
the protocols, and continues its policy of setting preconditions,"
Sargsyan said in a letter to parliament speaker Galust Sahakyan.
Moreover, "in the run-up to the centenary of the Armenian Genocide ...
the policy of denial and editing of history" has received a new
impulse, Sargsyan said.
The global ethnic Armenian community is going to mark this April as
the centenary of massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
Armenia set no preconditions in embarking on the path of normalizing
its relations with Turkey, Sargsyan said in his letter. However, it
"foresaw all possible scenarios for future developments."
"We were ready both for a comprehensive settlement of our relations
via the protocols and for their potential failure as we had nothing to
hide and it would have been clear to the international community whose
fault it was that the only border in Europe to remain closed had not
been opened, and a chance to open it had been missed," Sargsyan said.
"I have repeatedly said that we do not have unlimited time, and I said
so again from the platform of the UN General Assembly in September
2014. I regret that the Turkish leadership has never heeded this appeal
from Armenia. For this reason, I have decided to recall the protocols
'On the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Armenia and
Turkey' and 'On the Normalization of Relations between Turkey and
Armenia,' which were signed in Zurich on October 10, 2009, from the
National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia," the president said.
There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey and
the border between them was closed by Ankara in 1993 because of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and has remained shut to this day.
The two protocols, signed by the Armenian and Turkish foreign
ministers, have never been ratified by the parliament of either
country. In April 2010, Sargsyan halted the ratification process in
Armenia. Simultaneously, Armenia protested linking the normalization
of bilateral relations to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In January 2013, Sargsyan warned that an "ongoing blockade of Armenia"
would not enable either Turkey or Azerbaijan to wrench any unilateral
concessions from Yerevan on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
In September 2014, Sargsyan announced that his government was
considering recalling the protocols from the legislature.
as mk
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Interfax, Russia
Feb 16 2015
YEREVAN. Feb 16
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced on Monday that he was
recalling Armenian-Turkish protocols on the normalization of relations
and establishment of diplomatic relations from parliament.
"It has been six years since the protocols were signed. All this
time Armenia has held a consistent position on the implementation
of the protocols. However, it has to be recorded that the Turkish
government has no political will, distorts the spirit and letter of
the protocols, and continues its policy of setting preconditions,"
Sargsyan said in a letter to parliament speaker Galust Sahakyan.
Moreover, "in the run-up to the centenary of the Armenian Genocide ...
the policy of denial and editing of history" has received a new
impulse, Sargsyan said.
The global ethnic Armenian community is going to mark this April as
the centenary of massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
Armenia set no preconditions in embarking on the path of normalizing
its relations with Turkey, Sargsyan said in his letter. However, it
"foresaw all possible scenarios for future developments."
"We were ready both for a comprehensive settlement of our relations
via the protocols and for their potential failure as we had nothing to
hide and it would have been clear to the international community whose
fault it was that the only border in Europe to remain closed had not
been opened, and a chance to open it had been missed," Sargsyan said.
"I have repeatedly said that we do not have unlimited time, and I said
so again from the platform of the UN General Assembly in September
2014. I regret that the Turkish leadership has never heeded this appeal
from Armenia. For this reason, I have decided to recall the protocols
'On the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Armenia and
Turkey' and 'On the Normalization of Relations between Turkey and
Armenia,' which were signed in Zurich on October 10, 2009, from the
National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia," the president said.
There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey and
the border between them was closed by Ankara in 1993 because of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and has remained shut to this day.
The two protocols, signed by the Armenian and Turkish foreign
ministers, have never been ratified by the parliament of either
country. In April 2010, Sargsyan halted the ratification process in
Armenia. Simultaneously, Armenia protested linking the normalization
of bilateral relations to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In January 2013, Sargsyan warned that an "ongoing blockade of Armenia"
would not enable either Turkey or Azerbaijan to wrench any unilateral
concessions from Yerevan on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
In September 2014, Sargsyan announced that his government was
considering recalling the protocols from the legislature.
as mk
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress