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 YEREVAN
(RFE/RL)–President Serzh Sarkisian again warned Turkey against
delaying the implementation of its agreements with Armenia and
vowed a “tough” response to a possible Azerbaijani attempt to
take Nagorno-Karabakh by force as he defended his foreign policy
over the weekend.
Sarkisian also insisted that the
controversial agreements signed last month will not hamper
greater international recognition of the Armenian genocide.
Ankara has made no secret of its intention to
exploit the formation of a Turkish-Armenian commission of
historians, envisaged by one of the two “protocols,” to keep
more countries from officially recognizing the Armenian
Genocide.
Sarkisian again dismissed these fears as he
addressed a congress of his Republican Party of Armenia on
Saturday. “On the contrary, I am confident that by establishing
relations with Turkey, by coming into contact with Turkish
society it will be possible to accelerate the recognition
process within Turkey and the entire world,” he said.
Accordingly, Sarkisian defended the
Western-backed Turkish-Armenian rapprochement that began shortly
after he took office in April last year. He said Ankara and
Yerevan have managed to “break the ice” in bilateral relations
characterized by mutual hostility and mistrust until now.
But in what appeared to be another implicit
threat to walk away from the agreements, the Armenian leader
reiterated that he expects the Turkish parliament, in which the
ruling Justice and Development Party has a clear majority, to
ratify them within a “reasonable time frame.” “If Turkey drags
out the ratification process, then, as I have already said,
Armenia will not hesitate to take adequate steps conforming to
international law,” he said.
Turkish leaders have indicated that Turkey’s
parliament will not ratify the protocols without a resolution to
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict favoring Azerbaijan. Sarkisian and
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev reportedly made further
progress in that direction during their fresh talks held in
Munich earlier this month. But whether they could cut a peace
deal along the lines of the “basic principles” of a Karabakh
settlement proposed by international mediators in the coming
months is still not clear.
Sarkisian again cautioned on Saturday that
the conflict’s resolution “may take years.” “However, the
current stage of the conflict’s resolution gives me reason to
hope that we could bring it to a logical conclusion within a
reasonable period of time,” he said without elaboration.
He also issued a stern warning to Aliyev, who
publicly threatened the Armenians with renewed war ahead of the
Munich talks. “Armenia stands for a peaceful resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but we will not allow any inroads
against Nagorno-Karabakh and are ready to counter any inroads by
toughest means,” he said.
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