Expert: Turkey ruled out western mediation for normalization of relations with Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Withdrawing the Armenian-Turkish relations from the parliament's agenda, Turkey removed the issue from its legal field, an expert said.

“Protocols were frozen from the political point of view, now they were knocked out from the legal field,” turkologist Ruben Melkonyan told a press conference in Yerevan.

At the same time he advised the Armenian public not to take the matter seriously, as this was “the result of bureaucratic processes.”

“Turkey has just ruled out western mediation for normalization of relations with Armenia,” Melkonyan said.

On August 22, 2011, Turkey’s Grand National Assembly has withdrawn from the agenda 898 bills, including the Armenian-Turkish protocols envisaging normalization of relations with Armenia and opening of the border. The new Turkish parliament considers that the issue of opening of border with Armenia is no longer actual for the country’s political course. Besides, in compliance with the parliament’s regulations, a bill that was rejected by the parliament loses its legal force during six months.

The protocols were signed in 2009 in Zurich by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu.

In April 2010, RA President Serzh Sargsyan decreed to suspend the process of ratification of the protocols due to Ankara’s unwillingness to ratify them.