Armenia should set specific timeframes to Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - Neither Moscow nor Washington could openly declare that they link Armenian-Turkish rapprochement with Karabakh peace process, Neo-Conservative Movement leader Edward Abrahamyan finds.



"Unfortunately, words and deeds often differ in politics," he told PanARMENIAN.Net in an interview.



"After the meeting with Russian Premier in Ankara, Erdogan announced that the two processes are 'implicitly' interrelated. And we all realize what he meant by that," the expert said.



"To avoid tricks, it would be advisable for Armenian authorities to set Protocol ratification timeframes to Turkey before the 95th anniversary of Genocide," he stressed.



The Protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of the 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.



On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country's Organic Law.



The Arsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) Republic (NKR) is a de facto independent republic located in the South Caucasus, bordering by Azerbaijan to the north and east, Iran to the south, and Armenia to the west.



After the Soviet Union established control over the area, in 1923 it formed the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) within the Azerbaijan SSR. In the final years of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan launched an ethnic cleansing which resulted in the Karabakh War that was fought from 1991 to 1994.



Since the ceasefire in 1994, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control of Nagorno Karabakh defense army.



Armenia and Azerbaijan have since been holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group.