Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian called his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, on Wednesday to express concern and seek clarification over that statement.Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian called his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, on Wednesday to express concern and seek clarification over that statement.
But the exchange of words between them apparently has not solved the problems as the Turkish Foreign Ministry is now working to write a text proving its concerns based on the Armenian court’s decision.
In Yerevan, Turkey’s moves have not been met with pleasure.
“Willing to proceed towards the ratification of the protocols, Armenia is hopeful that Turkey will show respect to the agreements achieved earlier,” Nalbandian told a news conference on Friday. “Turkey puts artificial obstacles in the way to avoid ratification. However, attempts to put the blame for frustrating the reconciliation process on Yerevan won’t gain any understanding.”
A source at the Turkish Foreign Ministry told Sunday’s Zaman that Ankara is working on an assessment to be sent to Yerevan and the third parties to emphasize that Armenia’s constitutional court violated international law by conditionally affirming the two countries’ protocols.
Asked about the particular issues of concern, the same source said that “each article” in the “grounds of decision” is against the spirit of the protocols but that the heart of the matter is the court’s reference to 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.”
In the fifth paragraph of the Armenian court’s ruling it says that the protocols “cannot be interpreted or applied” in a way that would contradict the provisions of the preamble to Armenia’s constitution and the requirements of paragraph 11 of its Declaration of Independence.
Armenians say 1.5 million Armenians were killed during a systematic campaign in eastern Anatolia, while Turkey rejects the claims of genocide, saying the killings came as the Ottoman Empire was trying to quell civil strife and that Muslim Turks were also killed in the conflict.
On the other hand, the protocols do not specifically mention the massacres of 1915 but stipulate that the two sides agree to “implement a dialogue on the historical dimension with the aim of restoring mutual confidence between the two nations, including an impartial scientific examination of the historical records and archives to define existing problems and formulate recommendations.”
Seemingly unsatisfied, Davutoğlu discussed the issue on the phone with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, whose country mediated the talks between Armenia and Turkey.
“There will be a study done between the parties to clarify the meaning of the constitutional court’s ruling in reference to the implementation of the protocols. We are working on the text to specifically indicate our concerns,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.
One of the Turkish observers of the issue, retired Ambassador Özdem Sanberk, said that the Turkish diplomats are right to be fastidious about the matter because they would not want to see surprises later in the process.
“Turkey would not like to see the Armenian constitutional court as a party in this process again. So it wants to make sure that the court’s approval does not carry preconditions for the implementation of the protocols,” he told Sunday’s Zaman.
Nevertheless, retired Ambassador Temel İskit said this finicky interpretation by the Turkish Foreign Ministry was not necessary.
“The Armenian court explains its reasons for approval in its grounds. If you read it in a way that the implementation of the protocols will have to go to the court at each step of the process, this would mean something else, dragging its feet,” he said and added that Turkey might have to prove its sincerity again in the process.
It is no secret that facing fierce opposition domestically and from Azerbaijan, the Turkish government has warned several times that it would be hard to pass the protocols without any progress on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process although the protocols make no mention of a link between the normalization of Turkish-Armenian ties and the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Armenia, on the other hand, has had to contend with strong opposition to the deal with Turkey, both domestically and from its large diaspora.
The parties might need some assistance to boost morale at this point, and the Swiss mediators are ready to help. Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman Erik Reumann said on Friday: “We are committed to assisting the parties in their ongoing efforts. We are looking forward to the ratification process being completed as soon as possible, thus opening the way for the implementation of the protocols.”
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