YEREVAN. – Expert in Turkish studies Ruben Melkonyan does not rule out that Armenia might unexpectedly withdraw signatures from Armenian-Turkish protocols.

He stressed even if the Armenian side revoke the signatures, the whole responsibility would fall on Turkey.

“Keeping the protocols on the agenda for decades is unreasonable, therefore, recalling Armenia’s signatures seems pretty realistic. However, we should not plunge into such drastic steps now, because the international community is focused on the problems of the Middle East and this move would have no effect,” said Melkonyan, adding that Armenia and Turkey play a whose-nerves-are-stronger game.

In October 2009 Armenia and Turkey signed protocols in Zurich to normalize diplomatic relations between the states. The documents had to be ratified in both countries’ parliaments. However, in 2010 the Armenian president suspended the process due to Turkey’s non-constructive stance. Ankara set preconditions and linked the reconciliation process to resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

Turkey decided to remove the protocols from parliament’s agenda this August but then returned it in September.