Armenia-Turkey relations may be dropped from Armenia’s parliament agenda

YEREVAN, January 22. /ARKA/. Presidential nominee and current president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan does not exclude the possibility of taking the issue of Armenia-Turkey relations off the parliament agenda, Novosti-Armenia reported.

Normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations started in autumn 32008 initiated by Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan. On October 10, 2009, foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey signed protocols about establishing diplomatic relations and developing bilateral relations to be ratified by the countries’ parliaments.

But on April 22, 2010 Armenian president signed a decree to suspend the process as Turkey is not ready to go on and ratification of the protocols by Turkish parliament is frozen.

“Turks have not ratified the Armenian-Turkish protocols, and our time is not limitless. Armenia may revise its decision and take the issue off the parliament agenda”, Sargsyan told the voters in Avan community of Yerevan.

Sargsyan also pointed out that Armenia is not planning to take a new initiative on Armenia-Turkey relations in the near future. He expressed regret that the efforts made to normalize the relations with the neighbor were in vein. 

Turkey would not delay ratification, if the protocols were to its advantage and to disadvantage of Armenia, the president said.

There are currently no diplomatic relations established between Turkey and Armenia: official Ankara closed the border in 1993. The uneasy relationship between the countries is caused particularly by Ankara’s support to Azerbaijan on Karabakh problem and Turkey’s overreaction to international recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Empire. -0-