Turkey and Armenia sign historic protocols

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoğlu and Armenian FM Edward Nalbandian shake hands after signing the delayed protocols

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Armenia signed the historic protocols late Saturday to normalize their troubled relations after the resolution of last-minute differences.

The ceremony that took place after a three-hour delay began when the host country, Switzerland’s Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey invited Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoğlu and Armenian FM Edward Nalbandian to the table. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, French FM Bernard Kouchner, Russian FM Sergei Lavrov and EU’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana were present during the ceremony.

All parties to the protocol posed to cameras following the signing ceremony. Neither Davutoğlu nor Nalbandian gave verbal statements. A strained atmosphere was evident during the historic event.

Davutoğlu and Nalbandian were expected to sign protocols intended to normalize relations between the two countries at 6 p.m. at the University of Zurich. Both Davutoğlu and his Swiss counterpart arrived at the saloon of the university at the scheduled time. However, Clinton and Nalbandian were absent, opening the way for speculation that Clinton was trying to convince the Armenian minister to attend the ceremony.

The crisis occuped when Turkey and Armenia attempted to interfere in the verbal statements they will make. In his speech, Nalbandian wanted to refer to the 1915 killings of the Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire by using the word “genocide,” considered as an attempt to relax the Armenian diaspora and the opposition in Armenia. The Turkish side, on the other hand, wanted to refer to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, something Armenia says has nothing to do with the normalization of ties with Turkey, NTV broadcaster reported from Zurich.

It was later announced that the signing ceremony was delayed for an indefinite time but there were ongoing negotiations over the wording of the verbal statements. While the delegations were returning to the University of Zurich, Nalbandian was still absent and instead, Armenian Ambassador to Switzerland Charles Aznavour was present, raising questions if the protocols would be signed at the level of the two countries’ ambassadors to Switzerland or the foreign ministers.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry announced the protocols would be signed around 9 p.m. The crisis was overcome when the parties agreed not to give verbal statements.

In the following process, the accords need to be forwarded to the two countries' parliaments for ratification. On Monday, the Turkish Cabinet is expected to discuss the documents before sending them to Parliament.

Before departing Istanbul, Davutoğlu gave closed-door press briefing. "I could not sleep last night. I am going to sign an accord which has historical responibility," NTV quoted him as saying early Saturday.

The protocols are accompanied by an appendix, which specifies a clear timetable for implementation. The agreements envision the opening of the border within two months after the second protocol goes into force, although, this step requires approval from the parliaments of both countries and their presidents.

In Istanbul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, “Armenian demands in time will be very important. We’ll not bend in the face of those demands.” Erdoğan assured that Turkey would not take any step that would leave Azerbaijan in difficulty. Asked about the meeting of the Armenian and Azeri presidents in Moldova last Thursday, he said a more positive step could be taken that would contribute to the normalization between Turkey and Armenia. “Despite this, we are in favor of developing relations with Armenia by protecting our good intentions and in a way that will not hurt Azerbaijan,” he told reporters.

Although no links are established in the protocols between the normalization of Turkish-Armenian ties and the settlement of the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Erdoğan stressed the opening of the border with Yerevan could be considered a process parallel to progress in Nagorno-Karabakh.

In a televised interview, Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek said the instability in the Caucasus was harming Turkey. “We want normalization [in ties with Armenia] which will bring peace and stability to the Caucasus,” he told private NTV television. He made clear, however, that the relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan would be important in the process of normalization of ties between Turkey and Armenia.