Political analyst: no room for ratification of Armenian-Turkish protocols

YEREVAN, September 27. /ARKA/. Alexander Iskandaryan, political analyst and director of Caucasus Institute, speaking Tuesday in Novosti International Press Center, said there are absolutely no prospects today for ratification of Armenian-Turkish protocols by Turkish Parliament. 

It became known on September 24 that Turkish government that Turkish government has returned Armenian-Turkish protocols signed in 2009 to the parliament’s agenda. 

“To put it mildly, Turkey now doesn’t care about protocols – it has far bigger troubles in both foreign and domestic policies,” Iskandaryan said. 

In recent weeks, there is an all-out war between Turkish army and Kurdish guerrillas, and this is a grave problem for Turkey. 

Iskandaryan also finds it obvious that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will seek to amend the country’s constitution to make Turkey a presidential republic and run for presidency. According to Iskandaryan, in such a situation ratification of the protocols will hardly play into his hands.

He says that Turkey seeks dominance in the rapidly-changing Middle East, but having no sufficient resources for that, faces difficulties. 

“Things are very complicated and risky, and Turkish leadership stakes everything to obtain a new position in the region,” he said. “In such a situation, how can Turkey think about Armenian protocols?”

The political analyst said that the United States keeps pushing Turkey to sign the protocols, but it has no sufficient pressure instruments. 

Turkey and Armenia have had no diplomatic ties since Armenia became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support for its ally, Azerbaijan, which had a dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, the ethnic Armenian enclave of Azerbaijan. 

There are several sensitive issues complicating the establishment of normal relations between the two countries, particularly, Ankara’s blatant support of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution process and Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge the mass killings of Armenians in the last years of the Ottoman Empire as a genocide.

Thaw in Armenian-Turkish relations began in 2008 at Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s initiative. 

On October 10, Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers Edward Nalbandyan and Ahmet Davutoglu signed the protocols on establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries and development of bilateral relations. The protocols had to be ratified by the two countries’ parliaments, but on April 22, 2010, the Armenian president signed a decree ceasing the process of ratification. He said Turkey was not ready to continue the process.-0--