Turkish Prime Minister: Armenia has exposed the protocols to ‘surgical intervention’
Erdogan says if Armenia does not ‘correct the mistake, the process will be frozen’.
Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made an official statement saying that “if the RA Constitutional Court sticks to its decision the normalization process of the Armenian-Turkish relations may be frozen”.
“The RA Constitutional Court has acted in secrecy,” said Erdogan prior to Turkey’s cabinet meeting on January 21. “We immediately and without any changes submitted the protocols signed in Zurich to the parliament. Not a single word was changed in them demonstrating our sincerity, whereas in Armenia the protocols have been exposed to surgical intervention. In case the mistake is not corrected, the process will be frozen”.
The decision of the Constitutional Court of Armenia became the issue that brought together the standpoints of Turkey’s authorities and the opposition. The Court ruled that the article in Armenia’s Declaration of Independence on the Armenian Genocide and Western Armenia is not subject to change.
“The Armenian-Turkish protocols have to be immediately called back from the parliament, annulled, and ask the Turkish people for forgiveness,” stated Devlet Bahceli, leader of Turkey’s Nationalistic Movement Party that runs an ultra-nationalist organization Grey Wolves.
The January 12 decision of the Court rules that the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border and establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, as well as any other steps taken by the signing sides within the framework of implementing the protocols, cannot cast doubt on or anyhow undermine the efforts to achieve the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Simply put, the Court did not say anything new and only confirmed what President Serzh Sargsyan had been repeatedly stating: there are no preconditions on Genocide in the protocols.
Turkey’s discontent in this context is another proof that the Turks thought otherwise.
“The RA Constitutional Court has acted in secrecy,” said Erdogan prior to Turkey’s cabinet meeting on January 21. “We immediately and without any changes submitted the protocols signed in Zurich to the parliament. Not a single word was changed in them demonstrating our sincerity, whereas in Armenia the protocols have been exposed to surgical intervention. In case the mistake is not corrected, the process will be frozen”.
The decision of the Constitutional Court of Armenia became the issue that brought together the standpoints of Turkey’s authorities and the opposition. The Court ruled that the article in Armenia’s Declaration of Independence on the Armenian Genocide and Western Armenia is not subject to change.
“The Armenian-Turkish protocols have to be immediately called back from the parliament, annulled, and ask the Turkish people for forgiveness,” stated Devlet Bahceli, leader of Turkey’s Nationalistic Movement Party that runs an ultra-nationalist organization Grey Wolves.
The January 12 decision of the Court rules that the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border and establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, as well as any other steps taken by the signing sides within the framework of implementing the protocols, cannot cast doubt on or anyhow undermine the efforts to achieve the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
Simply put, the Court did not say anything new and only confirmed what President Serzh Sargsyan had been repeatedly stating: there are no preconditions on Genocide in the protocols.
Turkey’s discontent in this context is another proof that the Turks thought otherwise.