Signing Turkish-Armenian protocols will depend on Karabakh

Political analysts from the Turkish Centre of International Relations and Strategic Analysis think that the Turkish Parliament will not ratify the Zurich agreement between Turkey and Armenia unless five Armenian-occupied territories around Karabakh, as a minimum, are freed. The Centre has published this opinion after the meeting between Turkish PM Recep Erdogan and US President Barack Obama.

The Turkish side insisted during this meeting that fulfilment of the Zurich protocols should definitely be connected with the Karabakh issue, but the Armenian side protested against such an approach. Armenia’s President Serzh Sarkisian said that the protocols could be declared invalid if this was done. He said that Armenia is ready to ratify the protocols and expects Turkey to do the same, and Turkish attempts to combine these two issues are doomed to failure. Armenia, in contrast, is ready to ratify the protocols without precondition, even if it means giving up its demand that Turkey recognise that it committed genocide against the Armenian people at the beginning of the 20th century.