YEREVAN. – President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on Thursday to terminate the process of signing of Armenia-Turkey protocols.
The decision was announced during the meeting of the National Security Council on Thursday.
The decree signed by the president says:
“Governed by the amendments of 2005, by the 7th paragraph of the 55th article of the Constitution of Armenia and taking as a basis the first part of the Article 39.1 of the law “On international treaties of the Republic of Armenia”, I decree:
To cancel the procedure for signing the protocols “On the establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey” and “On the development of relations between Armenia and Turkey", signed on October 10, 2009 in Zurich.”
The Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs is instructed to notify Turkey about the cancellation of the protocols.”
In 2008, at the initiative of the President of Armenian a new phase of Armenian-Turkish relations was started. As a result, on October 10, 2009 in Zurich, the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Turkey – Edward Nalbandian and Ahmet Davutoglu – signed the “Protocol on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey” and “Protocol on development of relations between of the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Turkey”.
The signing ceremony was attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, head of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Žbogar and Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union.
The Armenian authorities sent the protocols to the National Assembly for ratification in April next year, however, Turkey delayed the ratification for a long period of time. Moreover, Ankara put forward preconditions and links the ratifications to the Karabakh conflict.
Turkey officially recognized the Republic of Armenia on 24 December 1991 and till now refuses to establish diplomatic relations with the Republic of Armenia. In 1993, Turkey unilaterally closed its air and land borders with Armenia.
Taking into account the call of the Political Council of the parties-members of the ruling coalition, on April 22, 2010 the President of Armenia signed a decree on the suspension of the process of ratifications of the Protocols. The notification has been sent to Turkey.
In 2015 President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan recalled Armenia-Turkey protocols from the parliament.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly session in September 2017 Sargsyan said that the Turkish government is putting forward ridiculous preconditions for the ratification of the Zurich protocols. According to the president, as there is no positive progress on Turkey’s ratification of these agreements, Armenia will annul agreements.
