Serzh Sargsyan: In the absence of a positive progress towards the implementation of the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation protocols, Armenia will declare them null and void
ArmInfo. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, speaking at the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly, expressed gratitude to all those countries that recognized the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Turkey.
"From this high tribune of Honor and Responsibility I consider it my duty to express gratitude to those countries that recognized or confirmed their position on the Armenian Genocide. Thank you, regardless of the format of this recognition and the language used. Thanks to all those figures, state bodies, territorial associations or organizations of many and many countries who publicly call things by their own names.
This is really important, as oblivion opens the way for new crimes of genocide, "the RA President said. In this regard, he stressed, everyone should remember that next year the family of the United Nations will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. "In this connection, Armenia will come up with a new initiative, and we invite everyone to join us and support this initiative," the head of the republic said, stressing that Armenia has never made recognition of the Armenian Genocide a prerequisite for the settlement of bilateral relations between the RA and Turkey. Moreover, he noted, it was thanks to the process initiated by Armenia in October 2009 that the Zurich protocols were signed.
"These documents have not been ratified to this day and laid by Ankara in dark boxes. The Government of Turkey sets forth absurd preconditions for their ratification, which do not at all follow from the letter and spirit of the protocols. I expressed the clear attitude of the Armenian people to all this three years ago from this high rostrum. Now it's time to give an additional explanation. The leadership of Turkey is mistaken if it thinks that it can forever hold these documents hostage and ratify them on a convenient occasion for them. Negotiations on protocols were conducted in the current conditions to find solutions to existing problems, "Sargsyan said, stressing that in the absence of any positive progress towards their implementation, Armenia will declare the two protocols null and void.
"We will enter the spring of 2018 without these, unfortunately, the vain protocols, as experience has shown. Armenia, nevertheless, remains confident that any two neighboring states are obliged to establish and have regular relations to discuss all possible differences between them and to find their solutions, "the head of state said, noting that Armenia is guided by this conviction, realizing their participation in various integration processes.
Protocols on the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations were signed on October 10, 2009 in Zurich. The protocols were signed by the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Turkey Edward Nalbandian and Ahmet Davutoglu in the presence of the Foreign Ministers of France, the USA, Russia and Switzerland, which was the mediator in the Armenian-Turkish negotiations since 2007. According to the documents, diplomatic relations should be established between the countries and the Armenian-Turkish border closed since 1993 is opened. On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of Armenia recognized the Protocols as being in compliance with the Armenian Constitution. There are no preconditions for the Protocols in the conclusion of the Constitutional Court, because this contradicts the established rule of verdicts.
The verdict of the Constitutional Court reads: the Armenian-Turkish Protocols on the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations are in accordance with the RA Constitution and the Declaration on the Independence of Armenia. In April 2010, the Armenian president suspended the process of ratifying the protocols.