A year after the Armenian-Turkish Protocols were initialed, we can assert that the documents positively affected the Armenian and Turkish societies, Turkish studies expert Artak Shakaryan told NEWS.am.

According to him, one of the positive points is that demands of the Armenian side turned theory into practice. “Earlier, we have demanded border opening in theory, we thought that could establish dialogue with Turkish people, but after the protocols were signed it became clear that we are not ready either for border opening or for establishing relations with Turks. It was revealed that Turks are not ready to apologize to Armenians as well. We just got to know each other better,” the expert said. He also noted that next time when new Armenian-Turkish process is launched the sides will be more ready for it and draft more efficient documents.

Shakaryan does not share opinion of the experts and politicians who consider the Armenian-Turkish process a failure of the Armenian democracy. “On the contrary, we showed that can display initiative, the process had to be launched sooner or later,” he added.

In his turn, Manvel Sargsyan, an expert of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, stressed the Armenian-Turkish process has many negative consequences. First, dubious documents led to Ankara’s intensified efforts to interfere with the Karabakh conflict. According to him, the process also accelerated establishment of Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem. The positive point is Armenians once again revealed Turk’s true face, Sargsyan noted.

The Armenian-Turkish Protocols were initialed on August 31, 2009 to be signed on October 10 in Zurich. However, the documents have not been ratified by the Armenian and Turkish parliaments because of Ankara’s constant preconditions.