{"id":15343,"date":"2009-10-12T21:22:43","date_gmt":"2009-10-12T19:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=15343"},"modified":"2023-04-06T15:50:16","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T12:50:16","slug":"sarkisian-confirms-turkey-trip-again-warns-ankara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/10\/12\/sarkisian-confirms-turkey-trip-again-warns-ankara\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarkisian Confirms Turkey Trip, Again Warns Ankara"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"Armenia — President Serzh Sarkisian speaks to journalists.<\/div>\n
12.10.2009<\/div>\n

Armenia\u2019s President Serzh Sarkisian announced on Monday his decision to visit Turkey this week to attend a football match between the two neighbors, while questioning Ankara\u2019s commitment to honor the fence-mending agreements with Yerevan. (UPDATED)<\/span><\/p>\n

Sarkisian suggested that Turkish leaders\u2019 weekend statements linking the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations with a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh were \u201cprimarily addressed to the Azerbaijani audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOtherwise, it would seem strange to me: if the Turks are not going to ratify the protocols, then why did they sign them [in Zurich on Saturday] in the first place?\u201d he told journalists. \u201cMaybe they thought that we might not display sufficient will and take a step back. Maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn any case, the ball is in the Turkish court today, and we have enough patience to await further developments,\u201d said Sarkisian. \u201cIf the Turks ratify the protocols, if they stick to the agreed timetable, we will continue the process. If not, we will not be bound by anything and will do what we have announced.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a televised address to the nation on Saturday, Sarkisian likewise implicitly threatened to walk away from the controversial agreements, which have put him at odds with nationalist groups in Armenia and its influential Diaspora, if Ankara fails to implement them \u201cwithin a reasonable timeframe.\u201d Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Sunday that the establishment of diplomatic relations and reopening of the border between the two states hinges on a breakthrough in the Karabakh peace process.<\/p>\n

Galust Sahakian, the parliamentary leader of Sarkisian\u2019s Republican Party (HHK), indicated on Monday that Armenia\u2019s National Assembly will start debating the protocols only after they are approved by the Turkish parliament. \u201cIf Turkey makes any reservations, our parliament will not even include [the issue] on its agenda,\u201d said Sahakian.<\/p>\n

Both the HHK and Erdogan\u2019s Justice and Development Party have a solid majority in their respective legislatures.<\/p>\n

Sarkisian also made clear that he has accepted his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul\u2019s invitation to watch with him the return match of Armenia\u2019s and Turkey\u2019s national soccer teams that will be played in the western Turkish city of Bursa on Wednesday. The Armenian leader said earlier that he will visit Turkey it only if Ankara takes \u201creal steps\u201d to normalize bilateral ties.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Turkey — Bursa city residents protest as local authorities banned to wave Azeri flags at the Turkey-Armenia football match due on October 14, 11Oct2009<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sarkisian said on Monday that \u201csufficient prerequisites\u201d are now in place for the landmark trip. \u201cTurkey\u2019s president, Mr. Gul, had responded to my invitation and come to Armenia [in September 2008,] and I now see no serious basis not to accept his invitation,\u201d he said. \u201cMy counterpart has sent a written invitation, and unless something extraordinary happens in the next two days, I will go to Bursa and cheer for my favorite team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president answered journalists\u2019 questions at Yerevan\u2019s Zvartnots as he prepared to fly to Moscow for what his office described as a brief working visit. Shortly before his departure, Sarkisian sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama thanking Washington for its active role in the Turkish-Armenian dialogue.<\/p>\n

“I am convinced that without the decisive help of the United States it would have been impossible to make effective efforts in this direction,” he said after “warmly” congratulating Obama on winning the Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Turkey\u2019s Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said later on Monday that the Erdogan government will send the protocols to the Turkish parliament \u201cnext week.\u201d \u201cThe assembly will decide whether to approve or reject them,” Cicek told reporters after a cabinet meeting. But he underlined that the \u201cparliament will undoubtedly follow developments in Armenia during this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the AFP news agency, Cicek described the pacts as a \u201csincere and serious show of will\u201d by Turkey. But he reiterated that lasting peace in the region also depends on the resolution of the Karabakh dispute.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.azatutyun.am\/a\/1849587.html<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Armenia — President Serzh Sarkisian speaks to journalists. 12.10.2009 Armenia\u2019s President Serzh Sarkisian announced on Monday his decision to visit Turkey this week to attend a football match between the two neighbors, while questioning Ankara\u2019s commitment to honor the fence-mending agreements with Yerevan. (UPDATED) Sarkisian suggested that Turkish leaders\u2019 weekend statements linking the normalization of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":783684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,89],"tags":[2129],"class_list":["post-15343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armenia","category-turkey","tag-turkey-and-armenia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}