The Armenian authorities need public support to sign the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, RA Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan stated in Parliament.

Responding to the ARF member Vahan Hovhannisyan’s questions about possible amendments to the Protocols before they are signed and about whether the Armenian Foreign Office is informed of the ARF’s proposals concerning the documents, Minister Nalbandyan said: “The representatives of both countries held long consultations before the Protocols took their present form. Numerous proposals were not incorporated in the documents for some reasons. As a result, two protocols were submitted to the public for political forces and public to form their opinion on them and voice it before the Parliament ratifies the documents. If the political forces and the public do not approve of the documents, the Parliament will reject them, or vice versa.” However, the Minister did not give a clear answer to the question about possible amendments to the documents before they are signed. If the answer is negative, why did the political forces put in a great deal of effort to draft amendments?

As to why the Armenian Parliament must ratify the Protocols if it is not standard practice in Armenia, the Minister said: “The Armenian Parliament does not normally ratify protocols on diplomatic relations. However, since it is a special case, both sides consider ratification of the Protocols by Parliaments legally acceptable. It does not contradict either the Armenian or international law. If, one fine day, diplomatic relations with Azerbaijan should be established I think it would be right if the Parliaments ratified the agreement.”

Minister Nalbandyan also tried to dispel the fears of the political forces that believe the ratification of the Protocols will challenge the fact of Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. “A declaration denouncing the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire was adopted as long ago as the times of Soviet Armenia and is still in force. The agreements do not challenge the fact of the Armenian Genocide, which has repeatedly been stressed by the Armenian President. And I, for my part, state it once again,” Nalbandyan said. As regards an Armenian-Turkish subcommittee of scholars which, as part of the Armenian-Turkish Intergovernmental Commission, is supposed to study historical facts, Minister Nalbandyan pointed out that it is to launch activities only after the two states establish diplomatic relations and the border is reopened.