Civilitas Foundation voices its concerns about Armenian-Turkish Protocols
The Civilitas Foundation posted an analytical article on its website on the latest developments in the Armenian-Turkish relations. "First of all, Turkey will not open its border with Armenia without settlement or progress in the Karabakh process. In other words, the border will not open without the consent of Azerbaijan. Through protocols on normalization of relations Turkey formally, in written form, has received from the Armenian side what she was unable to obtain since the date of Armenia's independence," the article says.
According to the article, by the reaction of some Turkish MPs it is possible to predict what noise these protocols will raise around. "The Turkish government can easily explain to the international community that ratification of these documents in the Parliament requires that the Armenian side makes some concessions in the Karabakh issue and liberate the territories adjacent to Artsakh," the article says.
As a second possible hypothesis the author of the article suggests the following: "Turkey is ready, even at the cost of temporary or apparent contradiction to Baku, to open the border, therefore, Armenia should also make every effort to achieve this goal. If Ankara agrees to open its border with Armenia without any progress, beneficial to Azerbaijan, in the Karabakh conflict, there will be no doubt that Turkey has a clear promise by the international community that all the territories adjustment to Karabakh will be surrendered to Azerbaijan without a guarantee for the final solution of Karabakh's status," the author says.
The article also states that by the Protocol on establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey and opening the border, Armenia agrees not to have any territorial claims against Turkey and accepts the offer of Ankara to establish a commission of historians. "If the Armenian parliament ignore existing threats in the documents, it would be a fatal mistake. During the past 17 years, none of the Armenian leadership has not taken such a step, based on their political and historical responsibility," the author concluded.
According to the article, by the reaction of some Turkish MPs it is possible to predict what noise these protocols will raise around. "The Turkish government can easily explain to the international community that ratification of these documents in the Parliament requires that the Armenian side makes some concessions in the Karabakh issue and liberate the territories adjacent to Artsakh," the article says.
As a second possible hypothesis the author of the article suggests the following: "Turkey is ready, even at the cost of temporary or apparent contradiction to Baku, to open the border, therefore, Armenia should also make every effort to achieve this goal. If Ankara agrees to open its border with Armenia without any progress, beneficial to Azerbaijan, in the Karabakh conflict, there will be no doubt that Turkey has a clear promise by the international community that all the territories adjustment to Karabakh will be surrendered to Azerbaijan without a guarantee for the final solution of Karabakh's status," the author says.
The article also states that by the Protocol on establishing diplomatic relations with Turkey and opening the border, Armenia agrees not to have any territorial claims against Turkey and accepts the offer of Ankara to establish a commission of historians. "If the Armenian parliament ignore existing threats in the documents, it would be a fatal mistake. During the past 17 years, none of the Armenian leadership has not taken such a step, based on their political and historical responsibility," the author concluded.
