The Armenian authorities have tried to establish relations with neighboring Turkey that characterize relations in the 21st century. This is what leader of Republic Party Aram Sargsyan told journalists at Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan today, touching upon the Turkey-Armenia Protocols signed in 2009.
When asked why the “football diplomacy” failed and what Armenia got out of it, he said the following: “How does the world view Armenia and Turkey in general? The world sees two neighboring countries that had problems after WWI and still can’t solve those problems. This is why other countries are trying to solve the problems as democratic countries. This is why they gathered the leaders of Turkey and Armenia in Geneva and created a document that could have broken the ice. Armenia signed the Protocols. Even back then, I had said that the Armenian parliament had to ratify the Protocols because that would leave the ball in Turkey’s court. If Armenia wanted to make Turkey face the facts and show the world that Turkey doesn’t remember and regret, it had to ratify the Protocols. Recalling the Protocols was a worse mistake than signing them.”
