Armenian FM warns of breakdown in Turkey reconciliation

Armenia's foreign minister on Friday warned that historic efforts to establish ties with Turkey may break down, blaming Ankara for obstructing the process, according to Agence France-Presse.

"If Turkey is not ready to ratify the protocols, if it continues to speak in ultimatums, to set preconditions and to obstruct the process, then I do not exclude that negotiations will break down," Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said at a press conference, AFP reported.

On Monday, Armenia’s Constitutional Court published its ruling affirming the constitutionality of the protocol, angering Ankara because the decision stipulated that the agreements must not violate a part of Armenia’s declaration of Independence that calls for recognition of the deaths of Armenians in 1915 as “genocide.”  

In October, Nalbandian and Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoğlu signed the historic protocols, which could pave the way to diplomatic relations between the two countries

Turkish Foreign Ministry sources said Tuesday that the court’s reference to a declaration rejecting even the questioning of the 1915 killings of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire is against the essence of the normalization process with Yerevan.

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations and their border has been closed since 1993, after Armenia's invasion of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory.

The territorial conflict, referred to as Nagorno-Karabakh, was tied to the normalization process after Turkish leaders warned it would be hard to pass the protocols without any progress toward a resolution to Karabakh.

/Hurriyet Daily News/