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Approval of Turkey-Armenia protocol by parliament not to be allowed: Turkish MP

Politics Materials 28 September 2009 15:40 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 28 / Trend R.Hafizoglu /

Approval of the final version of the Turkey-Armenia protocol, which will be signed between Ankara and Yerevan on Oct.10-11, by the parliament will not be allowed, Canan Aritman, Turkish MP from the Republican People's Party (CHP) told Trend over the telephone on Sept.28.

The protocol's final version will be signed by foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey, Ahmet Davudoglu and Edward Nalbandian on Oct.10 or Oct.11, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Trend in an exclusive interview.

On Aug. 31, Turkey and Armenia in the talks mediated by Switzerland reached an agreement to launch "internal political consultations" to sign the Protocol on Establishment of Diplomatic Relations and Protocol on Development of Bilateral Relations, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

"Political consultations will be completed within six weeks, and following that two protocols will be signed and submitted to the two countries' parliaments for approval," the ministry said.

"Both protocols create a base for normalizing bilateral relations," the Turkish Foreign Ministry stressed.

The Armenian-Turkish ties have been severed since 1993.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.

"The signing of the protocol by the ruling AKP's and Armenia or steps to normalize bilateral relations will not change anything. Because, under the Turkish law, all signed official documents must be approved by the Turkish Parliament," the MP said.

According to Aritman, the Turkish parliament will not approve the signed protocol.

Not Turkey and Azerbaijan, but only Armenia is interested in establishing diplomatic relations with Armenia, the Mp added.

"This project, which Turkish government wants to implement, is a project of the United States and Europe to rescue Armenia," Aritman said.

The authorities have not informed yet the public and the opposition about the fact in what direction and how they will develop the Turkish-Armenian relations, Aritman said.

"As far as we know, at the first stage the authorities did not intend to open the borders, but to establish bilateral diplomatic ties and open embassies. The boundaries will be closed symbolically," Aritman added.

"The authorities are trying to instill this way of development of the Ankara-Yerevan relations," Aritman added.

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