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Parliament Addresses Armenian Pullout From Turkey Accord

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  • Parliament Addresses Armenian Pullout From Turkey Accord

    PARLIAMENT ADDRESSES ARMENIAN PULLOUT FROM TURKEY ACCORD
    Sargis Harutyunyan, Karine Kalantarian

    23.02.2010
    http://www.azatutyun.am/co ntent/article/1966347.html

    The National Assembly began debating on Tuesday a government bill
    that would make it easier for Armenia to annul its normalization
    agreements with Turkey if Ankara continues to delay their ratification.

    The proposed amendments to an Armenian law on international treaties
    envisage the suspension or termination of agreements signed by Yerevan
    before their entry into force.

    President Serzh Sarkisian announced his intention to enact such
    amendments in December in response to Turkish leaders' continuing
    statements making the ratification of the Turkish-Armenian "protocols"
    conditional on the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh. He made clear
    that Yerevan will walk away from the deal if Ankara fails to implement
    it within a "reasonable" time frame.

    Addressing the parliament, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian
    effectively admitted that the amendments were drafted on Sarkisian's
    orders. "The president of the republic made a statement on and I have
    nothing to add to it," he said.

    Opposition and independent lawmakers criticized the initiative,
    saying that Armenian law and international conventions signed by
    Yerevan already allow for the abrogation of international treaties.

    "I am sure that our legislation in no way restricts the president's
    authority to suspend the process of terminating the ratification of
    any treaty," said former parliament speaker Tigran Torosian. "I am
    more than convinced that there is absolutely no need to pass this
    bill," he added.

    The bill was included on the parliament agenda just days after
    Sarkisian formally sent the two protocols to the parliament for
    ratification. But the National Assembly and its committee on foreign
    relations are in no rush to debate the documents envisaging the
    establishment of diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey and
    opening of their border.

    A spokesman for Sarkisian's Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), which
    has a clear majority in the assembly, on Tuesday again made clear that
    it will not vote on the protocols before their ratification by the
    Turkish parliament. Like other Armenian officials, Eduard Sharmazanov
    again avoided setting any deadlines for Turkish ratification.

    David Harutiunian, the chairman of the parliament committee on legal
    affairs, said Yerevan may wait for "one or two or several months"
    before deciding whether to discontinue the normalization process.

    "It's not possible to give a definite answer at this point. It depends
    on many processes," Harutiunian told journalists when asked what the
    Armenian side means by a "reasonable timeframe."

    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly reiterated on
    Monday that Turkey will not implement the protocols unless there is a
    breakthrough in international efforts to settle the Karabakh conflict.
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