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ANKARA (RFE/RL)–President Serzh Sarkisian
will press for a speedy implementation of the newly signed
Turkish-Armenian agreements during his landmark visit to Turkey
on Wednesday, a senior pro-government lawmaker in Yerevan said
on Tuesday.
Sarkisian and his Turkish counterpart
Abdullah Gul are due to hold face-to-face talks and have dinner
before watching the second leg of a World Cup qualifier between
Turkey’s and Armenia’s national soccer teams in the northwestern
city of Bursa. The two leaders will then attend a reception
given by Gul.
In the words of Razmik Zohrabian, deputy
chairman of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, Sarkisian
plans to raise with Gul the mandatory parliamentary ratification
of the two protocols that were signed in Zurich over the
weekend. The protocols envisage the establishment of diplomatic
relations and the reopening of the border between the two
estranged neighbors.
“This may be the last meeting of the two
leaders before the parliamentary ratifications,” Zohrabian told
RFE/RL. “They will be talking not only about football at their
meeting. They will also be talking about Turkish-Armenian
relations, about how to have the two parliaments endorse this
document.”
Sarkisian said on Saturday that Yerevan will
take “appropriate steps” if Ankara fails to push the documents
through the Turkish parliament “within a reasonable timeframe.”
He also warned the Turks against linking the ratification
process with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
According to Zohrabian, the Armenian side may
well annul the agreements if they do not come into force “before
next spring.” “If the process drags on, then we could declare
the signed document null and void in accordance with
international law,” he said.
Zohrabian also played down nationalist street
protests that could greet the Armenian president in Turkey. He
argued that Gul himself faced peaceful demonstrations by
Armenians when he visited Yerevan in September last year. “There
will be similar protests against Serzh Sarkisian in Turkey,” he
said.
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