ANKARA (AFP)–A top Turkish diplomat will travel to Switzerland and the United States to seek their support over an Armenian court ruling that Ankara says threatens deals with Yerevan to normalize relations, a foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
Feridun Sinirlioglu, undersecretary at the ministry, “will visit these two countries in the coming days to express our concern” over the ruling last month by the Armenian constitutional court, spokesman Burak Ozugergin told reporters.
Ozugergin told PanArmenian.net that Sinirlioglu would meet with Switzerland’s State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Michael Ambul, on Friday, February 5. “Bilateral meetings of this kind, focusing on bilateral relations, carry regular character,” he said, adding that details of the talks will be relayed to the press “later.”
After months of Swiss-mediation and U.S. encouragement, Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols in October 2009 to establish diplomatic ties and reopen their shared border, in a historic step toward ending a decades long blockade of Armenia illegally errected by Turkey in the early 90s.
But the process hit the rocks after the Armenian court upheld the legality of the protocols, but underlined that they could not contradict Yerevan’s official position that the Armenian Genocide must be internationally recognized.
Turkey accused Yerevan of trying to rewrite and set conditions on the deals. Armenia’s President and Foreign Minister have warned that the rapprochement is under threat of collapse.
Ozugergin said Ankara maintains its desire to build better ties with its eastern neighbor. There is no problem in Turkey’s Armenian opening. But Armenia has a problem with its Turkey opening,” he added.
The reconciliation process is also complicated by Ankara’s insistence that normalizing Turkish-Armenian ties depend on a resolutionon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict favoring Azerbaijan.
Hye, desparate Turkey, desparate Azeris, desparately seeking ‘allies’ – again. Manooshag
Turkey should be cut in half
If Turkey to be cut in half,then there would be DOUBLE-TROUBLE.. One Turkey is ANNOYING enough.
The Ancient Armenian Homeland will live again and we will live to see it.
No one has a right to criticise the Constitutional Court ruling of any country. Turkey is again lobbying hard to downplay the Genocide Bill that will sooner or later be passed in the US Senate. As for Turkey, you don’t have aa chance in being recognised as a civil country until such time you accept your own history, which is the Genocide commited by your leaders against the unarmed Armenian people in the 1800 and 1900 hundreds. Shame and denial has its boundaries……
Meet the author of the word Genocide in a desperate attempt to find friends. Turkey can not fool no one anymore..
let Turkey keep playing all it’s got, “the writing is on the wall” tide has changed, they are coming apart at the seams, no one cares about Turkey anymore, it’s way too late and everyone knows.
“Turkey accused Yerevan of trying to rewrite and set conditions on the deals” what a stupid argument.
I don’t know who wrote the so-called “Protocol” that Turkey takes it as a holy book, the author(s) took liberty to include some items in it that “Holy Book” which contradicts with our constitution; then our government handed that to Armenian Constitutional Court for review, now if ACC finds some items in that paper that goes against our constitution; can we call that rewriting and setting conditions?
I’m sorry to see such naïve argument; one can anticipate such argument from a Turkish official only.
Turkey has hidden instabilities, such as Kurdish issues, Islamists, Kamalists, ultra nationalists, and army, there will be quite interesting, when Genocide Bill passed in the US Senate. Nobody can predict the outcome of Turkish turmoil in the next few years!!! Turks easily can dump their problems over Israel, Armenia, Cyprus, or even Iraqi Kurds…