If normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations resumes, it unlikely to be based on withdrawn protocols - expert
19.02.2015,
16:30
If the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations resumes, it is unlikely to be based on the withdrawn protocols, since their active political existence ended far earlier than their withdrawal, Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Caucasus Institute, said on Thursday.
YEREVAN, February 19. /ARKA/. If the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations resumes, it is unlikely to be based on the withdrawn protocols, since their active political existence ended far earlier than their withdrawal, Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Caucasus Institute, said on Thursday.
On Monday, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, in his letter to National Assembly Speaker Galust Sahakyan, informed the latter about his decision to withdraw Armenian-Turkish relationship normalization protocols from the parliament.
Iskandaryan said he treats the president's step as a factor of internal policy. «This step can't make significant changes in foreign policy, since there were protocols of no prospects also before that, and it was impossible to imagine ratification, since the process died,» he said.
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 the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
The thaw in relations between the two countries began in 2008 at the Armenian president's initiative. In 2009 October 10 Armenia and Turkey signed "Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations" and "Protocol on the Development of Bilateral Relations" in Zurich which were to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries.
However, on 22 April 2010, the President of Armenia signed a decree suspending the ratification of the protocols, stating that Turkey was not ready to continue the process. -0- ---0-----
