November 21, 2011 - 13:47 AMT
Heritage again demands withdrawal of Armenia’s signature from protocols

The leader of Heritage opposition party’s parliamentary group believes Turkey will benefit from the status quo in ratification of Armenia-Turkey protocols.

As Stepan Safaryan noted, commenting on Turkish MP Mustafa Boskir’s statement, suggesting the protocols on normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia will not be put on Turkish parliament’s agenda, “clearly, Turkey won’t ratify the protocols, but will bring them up from time to time in pursuit of its goals.”

“In this context, I’d like to learn the opinions of those refusing to withdraw Armenia’s signature under the protocols, contrary to repeated Heritage requests, in hopes of reaping diplomatic gain from the document,” Armenian MP concluded.

The protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of the common border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks held through Swiss mediation.

In August 2011, the protocols were removed from the agenda but later were brought back again.