ANKARA, YEREVAN (Combined Sources)—In response to last week’s ruling by Armenia’s Constitutional Court, the Turkish Foreign Ministry Tuesday issued an announcement condemning Armenia for setting “unacceptable” preconditions on the Armenia-Turkey protocols.
In a statement issued late Monday, Turkey’s foreign ministry said “It has been observed that this [Constitutional Court] decision contains preconditions and restrictive provisions which impair the letter and spirit of the Protocols.”
“The said decision undermines the very reason for negotiating these Protocols as well as their fundamental objective. This approach cannot be accepted on our part,” continued the Turkish statement.
“Turkey, in line with its accustomed allegiance to its international commitments, maintains its adherence to the primary provisions of these Protocols,” added the statement.
“We expect the same allegiance from the Armenian Government,” the Turkish Ministry said in a statement,” concluded the brief statement.
On January 12, Armenia’s Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of the protocols, adding however, that the documents cannot have any connection with the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution process or impede Armenia of its pursuit of international recognition of the Armenia Genocide. To reinforce the latter point, the Court referenced Article 11 of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence, which states: “The Republic of Armenia stands in support of the task of achieving international recognition of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia.”
Official Yerevan was quick to react with Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian saying that he will personally phone his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu to “express my bewilderment and clarify where exactly the Turkish side sees preconditions and just how the decision by Armenia’s Constitutional Court contradicts the fundamental objectives of the protocols.”
Nalbandian also suggested that the Turkish government was looking for excuses to delay the process and add further preconditions on the protocols.
Despite countless arguments by the Armenian President and foreign minister that Armenia has entered this process without preconditions, Turkey has repeatedly linked the normalization of relations between the two countries with the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in favor of Azerbaijan.
As recently as late last week, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the protocols would not be ratified until a resolution to the Karabakh conflict is reached. These remarks came after his meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who bluntly said that the processes were separate and could not be interconnected. The same position was expressed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week during his official visit to Yerevan.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation, which has spearheaded vocal opposition to the protocols both in Armenia and the Diaspora, rejected Turkey’s statement. The party’s political director Giro Manoyan told reporters Tuesday that with its statement Turkey proved, once again, that, aside from its own interpretations, it rejects any other explanation of the protocols.
Manoyan warned that after this announcement by Turkey, Armenian authorities should not attempt to weaken the Armenian high court’s position.
“It is imperative for the Armenian authorities to not seek to weaken the Armenian Constitutional Court’s decision,” said Manoyan explaining, “The Armenian government must continue the process in the spirit of the court ruling.”
In a statement issued by the ARF following the Court ruling, the party expressed its continued rejection of the protocols, but added that the Constitutional Court provisions referenced above provide an opportunity for revisions in the next phase of the ratification process.
“We have launched a process of normalization in relations with Armenia and in good faith taken steps that include the signing of the protocols,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin told the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review. “We have often expressed our views about what the necessary conditions are for the maintenance of peace and stability in the Caucasus.”
The Turkish government submitted the protocols to Parliament, but they have not been submitted for ratification because they depend on the progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, added Hurriyet in its news report on the matter.
Burcu Gultekin Punsmann, a Caucasus expert at the Turkish think tank TEPAV, said the diplomatic agreements were a product of consensus between the states concerned and argued that the Armenian constitutional court’s reasoning was putting limits on points for which the sides had already reached an agreement, reported the Hurriyet.
oh my God , these People are stupid or very smart to delay the Protocol all the way after April 24 th .
but until when they are going to delay it after all they will run out of lies and gimics .
wake up Armos
OH MY GOD.. OH MY LORD..
I mean how direct can these Turks be and how ignorant can our govt continue to be…???
THis is a valid point to prove that since the birth of these Protocols, Turkey had an agenda behind it and now THEY ARE CRYING ? Oh what a BS.. What a drama queen?
Armenia should just stop everything and spit on their face.. This is getting ridiculeous and really really annoying.. Are we going to show them that they can’t manipulate us and anyone in that matter anymore? This needs to STOP..
Hope that Turkey gets their share.. Hope they drown in their lies and deceit and tears…
G
Good for you ARF. I stand alongside ARF. Indeed the Republic of Armenia stands in support of the task of achieving international recognition of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia. Plus people of Armenia and the government of our Republic, don’t give away the right of reparations from Turkey in obtaining our Western Armenian lands back.
The more I think about the whole protocol situation the more I think it is just a show, a diplomatic circus if you will.
I believe that the protocols will not be ratified, I believe no borders will be opened.
I also believe the status quo in Artsakh will remain as it is as long as we do not move an inch and can defend the border against any Azeri advance.
I suspect the current ROA government knows this, but is being forced by the global powers to take part in the charade to look credible and to keep an appearance on the world political stage.
This in my mind makes sence!!!!!
I shall continue to observe these events but have decided not to be taken by the emotional rollercoaster, as in 2009.
As usual, the Turks respond with the customary infantile aggression. We should never be surprised. For months, Hillary Clinton has been saying, “No preconditions” in response to demands about Kharabagh and the history commission. And here we go with infantile projection. The Turks might as well be saying, “What! The Armenian court upheld no preconditions! But we always wanted preconditions! Wah waah!” And here we thought this was about borders opening and establishing diplomatic ties.
Armenia is doing the right thing. They are being very diplomatic. People ignore the fact that what is actually occurring could be drastically different than what is actually happening in Yerevan. Half of politics is the theatrics, you need to decipher the truth from the political ploys. I think Serge did a excellent job.
NOW ARMENIA IS TALKING: Now Nalbandian and Sarkissian are talking sense. Now i feel we have a president. And as far as Turkish authorities, they can all go “jehennem”…
The process of Armenian humiliation by the Turkish Governmental Officials has started. It is something Mr. Stepan Demirjian, Mr. Aram Sargsian, Mr. Davit Shahnazarian, and Dr. Levon Ter Petrosian used to warn the People of Armenia as well as the Armenian illegal Government. Mr. Nalbandyan, the Armenian FM, went on lying and cheating on his own people (though I might make a mistake when saying “his own people”). As a rule, Diplomats, if needed, cheat on Officials of other nations for the benefits of their own people. This man used to cheat on the globalized Armenian society for the benefits of Turkey as well as for getting pats from European Officials, for personally hugging Mr. Lavrov, the Russian FM, and for shaking hands with Mrs. Clinton, the powerful Secretary of State of the United States of America. When Mr. Nalbandyan was said that such situation had been odd, he called the concerned Armenians masochists. Backing Mr. Nalbandyan, Mr. Galust Sahakyan a prominent Republican statesman of Armenia called the Armenian people abroad Takanq which means garbage (That way, the Armenian word “Takanq” became an international word to point out Armenians in Diaspora). Maybe, Mr. Galust Sahakyan, too, wanted Mr. Erdoghan to love him, as the latter had expressed his concerns about the Armenian Diaspora as a powerful factor on the Armenian Nationhood.
Do you really think you can do business with liars, cheats, thieves and oh yeah murderers? These mongols are truly “the sick men of Europe’ who have an identity issue that constantly needs to vilify their victims so as not to face their own true sickness. Having said that, when is our kindergarten grade foreign minister going to stop catering to nonsense idiots like this and understand that these mongols have no intentions to open any borders?
Davudoglu is besides himself! He thought he was a genius, and that noone would notice the conditions that the Turkish side had skillfully hidden amongs the lines of the protocols. Long live the courageous members of the Armenian Constitutional Court! Long live all Armenians who pointed out the main objectives of the language in the protocols. Turkey must think we are stupid! They could reopen the borders the same way they closed them! But no, their main objective in closing the border was suffacating the newly formed Armenian Republic, because Turkey has never steared from its national policy of annihilating the Armenians. The main objectives of the protocols was to force Armenia to let go of its historical lands in Anatolia by recognizing Turkey’s borders as “legal”, and to also assist Turkey in putting a question mark on the historical validity of the Genocide. Since the Armenian government looked so friendly they decided to push the envelope and ask for Artsakh also while they were at it. These were the protocol objectives for Turkey, and the Armenian court has basically uncovered them. Of course Dautoglu wants the “original” language of the protocols. We would not be in this mess, had the Armenian government consulted with the intellectuals amongs its own people when agreeing with all this. Getzeh Armenian Constitutional Court, Getzeh Hayastan, Artsakh and Spurk!
Getzeh katia K!
AMEN TO THAT KATIA…
No open borders, return of usurped land, recognition of genocide and compensation for the unspeakable deed.
That is right! These demand could be our protocols and demand the Republic of Armenia and Turkey to sign and ratify them.
The process – Protocol, has put us, as a nation, on a long and uneven way. We have learned a lot, more is still waiting. But we have to pause for a moment in order to acknowledge once more the power of unified Armenian nation. More importantly, Armenia has a political device – Constitutional Court, watching for the sake of the Armenian national interests.
“Constitutional Court, watching for the sake of the Armenian national interests.”
Respectfully, I don’t agree. In fact, the Constitutional Court based upon its own analysis, could have decided otherwise. Its explanations are the result of our unified effort, as you put it. We need to be on the top of all our institutions. Letting them to know that we are watching them. The Constitutional Court is not a political device, it is one of the three branch and balanced state power-Judiciary branch of Republic of Armenia.
Hye, and what do the AAA and cohorts say to all this – as they haven’t said anything at all.
(Except probably accepted the Hilary invite). Manooshag
right, they are not interested in helping Armenia, in any way shape or form they are not our friends in any way shape or form they are not interested in our survival in any shape or form, they are an enemy, they are very much interested in diminishing, destroying, disintegrating, devestating, dismembering, all of Armenia and its people, and all Armenians all over the world. They are denying the most heinous crime of the 20th century against us, why are you expecting anything civil and right mindedness form them? why are you expecting them to want your survival? It is what it is. why are you expecting it to be different than what it is? you are dealing with a vile enemy, there are no swards or guns right now but the enemy is there fighting you for the past 95 years after the genocide and has never stopped fighting you. don’t court your enemy. of course they are going to cry they are going to have conniption fits they are going to call us every name in the book and out side the book, they are going to resort to all sorts of ploys and seem sincere and innocent about it but its a game to get us to give up or destroy us that is their one and only aim. when you bed the enemy, expect this kind of treatment. expect nothing else. they do not want us to survive in any shape or form what so ever, and ever. They need that border open so badly now, they need it not us they need it so much more than us, much more than we can ever imagine. they can’t get away with the Genocide denial any longer, and now this crime the denial for 95 years, which is the continuation of genocide. the thing is no matter what they say or do now like all criminals they are now seen for what they really are, by all internatioanl community, so no one cares anymore and no one will help them anymore to cover up, Obama told them to their face in their country to their parliament to face their history and that’s that. so expect much more cries and delays and maneuvers it’s OK, they are running out of time not us. And that is what they are afraid of we should not be. they are crying for that too, and when April 24th comes this year their God will turn away form them too, just be cool and watch…..
AAAAAAAAAAMENNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!
Davitoglu, can kiss you know what…….. Seems like Nalbandian and Sarkisian are slowly geting the picture, not sure if they fully see it as we did. I hope we’ll not stop at this and make more concrete steps. Now is the time to stick it to those turks, who want to have a cake and eat it too on Armenia’s expense.
“We have often expressed our views about what the necessary conditions are for the maintenance of peace and stability in the Caucasus.”
Well, in our view, the necessary conditions for the maintenance of peace and stability in the Cauvasus include: justice, returning Western Armenia, recognition of your genocide against 1.5 million Armenian, and recognition of independence of Artsakh.
Exactly Papken.. I am with you on that 100%
The protocols should be ratified by both countries but on the conditions that the Armenian political authorities have set out on. Turkey should see that an open border with Armenia will be in their own interests. The Karabakh conflict should be settled with an Independent Nation Free of Azerbaijani threats.
The Court’s ruling was a simple 4-5 page ruling. It wasn’t rocket science. I’m glad the Court made a distinction as to what a third party is-namely Artsagh, a nonsignatory. Moreover, the Armenian Diaspora is a third party. However, no treaty or protocol can be valid and be part of Armenia’s constitution if it contradicts the Constitution or any part of it. To the extent the protocols contradicted the constitution, they would be invalid unless there was a constitutional amendment.
The Turks knew these simple legalities and are on a PR campaign before April 24, apparently because they are going to eat khasigh from the international community that they desperately want to join (Count Dracula style). However, even a high school kid can read the Court’s ruling and understand the rational.
On a different note, some American politicians are going to eat khasigh come November for their flip flopping no matter whether they are Republicans or Democrats to send a message to congress and the President. Enough is enough. Ayo girnank inel.
And to my Hyastansi friends, Ayo girnank sheenel.
Armenian people must be careful @ vigilant. The secret protocol is
designed, against Armenia & Artsakh, those who designed concpiracy of protocol in secret, you will see it desnot look like
a normal agreement. Turkey uniletraly shut down the border in
support of Azarbaijan, one must question, if Turkey disputes Art sakh, why Armenian leaders sigining a protocol unrelated to
real case, in advantage of Turkey but against national interest
of both Armenia & Artsakh, Turkey is responsible to open the
border. Armenian government claims porsuing this policy, for development of economy, whie governmen is corrupt & nothing have done
economy & life become beter. Armenian leaders, inviting turkish president turning tsitsernakaberds light off removing Ararat signs, from footbalers
shirts, for plesure & satisfaction, Mr gul in expence of humilation armenian nation, yet
this people will tell no precondition attached on the secret protocol
When secret protocol revealed, all armenians protested, Mr Gul advised his
Armenian counterpart do not listten them, but when Azaris frostrated over protocol
entire turkish goernment asured them & Armenian government never sayed do not
listten them.
On the Artsakh issue, Azarbaijani lies & distortion completely overwhelmed Armenian
leaders confused dont understand how to respond. Mr Sarkisian recomends Azari
Azari refugees? on right time to settle in Artsakh? he is legitemizing,defited runaway
Azaris as retugee , then convert Artsakh to Armenias Kosovo out of control. He never
mentioned those peaceful poor Armenians, in all Azari cities been terorrized, killed &
deported.
Armenia for survival & prosperity needs educated, experienced with strong character
leaders; do not be overwhelmed, influenced with forign negotiators, especialy in the
region surounded with some enemy nations.
Armenian nation must question these leaders,& bring them to justice for their deed.
They are just playing with everyone. They will never open the borders.
That’s it John, when will Armenians learn that you absolutely cannot be on friendly terms with a government that lies of their annihilation of more than 1.5 million + 300,000 Armenian souls and has been lying for 95 years. They lie, they cheat, give millions of dollars to the people in U.S. congress to lie and cheat for them, they are arrogantly aggressive, and above all any given chance they will annihilate Armenians time and time again. Just the same and even more goes to azeri vermins. You simply cannot make honest to goodness comprises with these people. They are not your normal Europeans or Armenians; they are worst than animals those people. You just have to act aggressive and within time demand your stolen lands Armenia and Artsakh – that’s all you can do. Act smartly and very aggressively for your sacred cause.
Yes Manooshag, where are those AAA’s and cohorts? What do they have to say now? Only the ARF had the gumpshion to raise their voice as well as the Diaspora. Thank goodness. Զէնքով, Հայրենասիրութեամբ, խելքով եւ անյապաղ կամքով կայ Հայաստան:
In response to Katia K,
Turkey’s borders are internationally recognised borders. It does not matter whether you recognise it or not. Armenia has to sign those protocols because world powers want it. You can make sure, Turks are not dying for open borders. Protocols will secure stable regional activities and safe energy corridors… As long as you don’t come to demand another silly concession from Turks.
The only party that has been snatching concessions is Turkey. We conceded our historical lands, we conceded our churches, we conceded our history, we conceded 1.5 million of our people, we conceded our most celebrated intellectuals, we conceded our grandparents lands, homes and possessions, some of us conceded their religion and their last names, and most of us conceded our family trees. When we ask for justice for the above, we are asking for things that rightfully belong to us…. therefore Turkey is in reality not conceding anything, because it is being asked for things that did not belong to it in the first place,… including the borders that were drawn in an agreement with Russia in the absence of a free Armenia. And oh, the world powers you are talking about, can change beds with allies overnight. Erdogan announced recently that Turkey was holding high level secret meetings with Russia to deal with the Karabagh issue… the same Russia that they deported the Armenians for helping in WWI! Enemies and Allies are interchangeable. The recognition of the existing borders by the world powers does not make them legal.
Flush the protocols down the loo. It was a photo opportunity and both sides had already met their objectives on the day of signing in Zurich. For Sargsyan: some legitimacy vis a vis foreign powers that he can govern and show some sort of initiative, after the post election fiasco and 8 people dead in Yerevan; For the Turks: hoping to score some EU points for having extended a hand to Armenians, hosting a soccer match, etc. And then what? Nothing. The status quo is the best way out right now for Artsakh and Armenia with an expected regime change soon and quadruple military power to keep Azeris on leash.
now i can tell Davut shun oglu mind your own business and keep silent and don’t interfere with karabakh’s conflict
Raffi.. i love your version of Davut#*$(#*$(#*# oglu name….TOOOOOOO FUNNY..:) iskakanits, he is a SHUN…
Folks,let’s get this one thing straight. When Turkish diplomats speak of regional PEACE process,what they actually mean is ‘PIECE process’, that’s P-I-E-C-E, PIECE. That’s right,they want regional PIECE of Armenia, PIECE of Artsakh, PIECE of Greece, PIECE of Russia, PIECE of Cyprus, PIECE of Europe and if they can get away with it most likely PIECE of your DERNIER. The Turks are PIECE loving people. After all their FICTITIOUS Republic of Turkey was built upon PIECE of Armenia, PIECE of Greece, PIECE of Cyprus and PIECE of Cilicia. While I’m at it,this is a word of CAUTION to the Armenian diplomats, “When shaking hands with Turkish counterpart, be sure to check your hand,chances are you could be missing a PIECE of your finger”.Now,excuse me but I gotta get me a PIECE of turkey_leftover New Years dinner that is.
Jay..
What a clever and very well written piece of commentary.. I believe you are definintely hit the bull’s eye…
what we need to give the turks and the rest of the corrupted leadership is PIECE of our mind.. in a not this professional and nice way.. that is the only way they may understand what the heck they have done to the people living in Armenia and outside of Armenia…
Gayane
Gayanne
Are you implying that we ought to give the Turks another BLOODY NOSE, such as BATTLE of SARDARA…BAD TO THE BONE, Part Two? Let’s give the TELLAKS a chance to recuperate from the First one.
Hi Jay,
If I had the opportunity or the courage to go to Turkey and punch Turkish officials in the nose and eye, would satisfy my anger just A TINY BIT… Something needs to be done cause we can’t have these animals running the world… we are civilized people and can’t have uncivilized, brainless and uncuth nation play everyone with a string…
Agghhhhhhhhhhh.. so frustrating…
You are so right that it is all about P I E C E… they want piece of us.. no they want it all..but shan poch irants…
G