The Republican Party of Armenia, Prosperous Armenia and Orinats Yerkir, which form a political coalition and majority at the Armenian National Assembly, have issued a joint statement in which they call for suspending the process of ratification of the Armenia-Turkey protocols in the Armenian legislature given Turkey’s reluctance to honor its commitment on an unconditional ratification of the deal within a reasonable timeframe.

The statement of the parties’ political councils disseminated by the Public Relations Department of the National Assembly, in particular, says:

“During the past two years the president of Armenia supported by the NA political majority has taken consistent steps towards establishing and developing Armenian-Turkish relations without preconditions. The United States, the Russian Federation, France, and Switzerland have greatly and actively supported this process. Many countries of the world have positively responded to the initiative, stressing its importance for the establishment of regional stability and for the settlement of current problems through civilized dialogue.

“The constructive efforts of the Armenian side and expectations of the international community have constantly met with inconsistent and evasive positions of the Turkish side, as well as the constant policy of imposing preconditions on the Armenian side. This led the ratification process to a deadlock.

“The political majority of the National Assembly considers the recent statements of the Turkish side (particularly those made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan) to be inadmissible. These statements link the ratification of the Armenian-Turkish protocols by the Turkish Parliament to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. At the same time, taking into consideration the fact that the Turkish side refuses to ratify the protocols without preconditions and within reasonable time, the further process of their ratification in the Armenian National Assembly is pointless at this stage. So, it is necessary to suspend the process and remove the discussion of the protocol ratification from the NA four-day sessions agenda until the Turkish side is ready to continue the process unconditionally.”