Çavuşoğlu: Ankara signed protocols with Armenia on certain terms

Turkey signed protocols on normalization а the bilateral relations with Armenia in certain conditions, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said at a news conference in Baku.

“We wanted to do this on certain terms. The main thing is that Armenia leaves the occupied territories (Nagorno-Karabakh is meant - EADaily), after that we shall normalize our relations,” the minister announced.

According to him, Armenia submitted the protocols to its Constitutional Court that “removed some important articles from the documents.”

“What if Armenia postpones or annuls the agreement? Until our condition is fulfilled, implementation а the agreement is impossible,” Çavuşoğlu noted.

In Oct 2009, in Zurich, the Armenian and Turkish foreign ministers signed protocols on normalizing the bilateral relations and opening the Armenian-Turkish border that was closed since 1993 under Turkey’s initiative. However, due to a number of reasons, in particular, because of a harsh obstruction from Baku, Ankara tied in ratification of the documents with settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Yerevan disagreed with it. The normalization process stalled, the parliaments of the two countries have not ratified the protocols yet.

Recently, the Armenian authorities announced they would annul the protocols in spring 2018.