The most significant event of 2009 in foreign policy was signing of Armenia-Turkey Protocols, and the law on amnesty –the most important one in domestic policy, expert Yervand Bozoyan told NEWS.am. He hailed negative the fact that Protocols signed in Zurich are conditioned by Karabakh peace process. “I repeatedly stated that politics supposes political processes but not legal. Legal documents usually are of less significance, frequently they remain ink on paper. It is important what political consequences these juridical acts will have. As to Armenia-Turkey Protocols, they are directly linked with Karabakh issue,” the expert said.

The expert considers that 2010 will be a difficult year for Armenia, as international community will increase its pressure in the peace process, influenced by Ankara which links Protocols’ signing with Karabakh conflict settlement. “Ankara has greater weight for international community than Yerevan, and Turkey’s conditions on Karabakh will be accepted. Armenian authorities will need great will to resist the pressure that supposes unilateral concessions from Armenian side on Karabakh peace process,” Bozoyan stated. He underlined that situation will depend not on leadership only, but political forces on the whole. “Political forces should respond adequately to the events. If they, and particularly Armenian National Congress, react as they did in 2009, Armenia will be in deplorable state as it was in 1920,” Bozoyan outlined.

According to him, if Armenian side makes concessions in Karabakh issue, Turkey will not ratify the Protocols. “In this case new political situation will need new approaches for the establishment of relations with neighbors, new approaches that will not have consequences of notorious &‘football diplomacy.’ Before this diplomacy was launched, Turkey itself was ready to make the first step. They started speaking about normalization of the relations with Armenia, guided by &‘zero problems with neighbors’ concept,” the expert concluded.

A.G.