YEREVAN, ANKARA (Combined Sources)—Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday slammed efforts by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian, who in a letter addressed to his Turkish counterpart, urged Turkey to honor its commitment to the protocols.
In his letter to Gul, Sarkisian said: “It is high time to demonstrate the willingness to take a step forward in order to leave a stable and secure region to future generations.”
“Our initiative to normalize Armenia-Turkey relations is in the spotlight of the international community. This is truly a historic moment, and the entire world realizes it. The efforts of the countries involved in the region are invaluable in the process of improvement of bilateral relations. I’m confident that it would be impossible to register progress without their mediation. At the same time, I do believe that no matter the level of interest by friendly states for a positive outcome of the process, there are certain steps that can be taken only by our two nations,” said Sarkisian, whose office issued the letter while he was flying over Turkey on an official visit to Great Britain.
“I think you’ll agree that the authorities are to play a key role in breaking the stereotypes between our peoples and establishing an atmosphere of mutual trust. It is only with trust in our efforts, resoluteness and adherence to our principles that we can achieve results. Otherwise, when the words and deeds contradict one another, it brings about mistrust, thus opening a vast field for those who oppose the process. We have to realize that, in this process, time is not working for but against this process,” added Sarkisian.
“If up to now, we have managed to elevate bi-lateral relations to a point, from where the future of normal relations between our countries becomes more real and tangible, today, it is high time to demonstrate the willingness to take a step forward in order to leave a stable and secure region to future generations,” added Sarkisan.
Turkey’s Davutoglu was quick to react and said that Yerevan was not displaying a positive approach to the protocols, saying “It is customary to send messages like that while flying over other states. The leaders of all states do so,” said Davutoglu, as reported by Haberturk news agency.
Davutoglu cited the Armenian Constitutional Court’s decision, which, last month, verified the constitutionality of the protocols, but noted that the process cannot be linked to the Karabakh conflict resolution, nor can it impede Armenia from pursuing the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
“The Armenian Constitutional Court’s decision is not constructive and following these changes the relations between the two countries are again back to where they were in the past,” said Davutoglu, as reported by the Azeri Trend news agency.
The Turkish foreign minister insisted that continuing the process would be impossible “unless Armenia backs down from its non-constructive position.”
Davutoglu also said that a recent decision by the US House Foreign Relations Committee to vote on the Armenian Genocide resolution pending in Congress would greatly hinder the normalization process.
Rest in Oblivion, protocols…
Thank GOD the protocols are dead. May the deniers, their ilk, and the complicit world bodies go to Jahenem and quickly.
The borders between Armenia, Georgia and Iran are open. Armenia does not need Turkey’s stinking borders. They can rot until eternity.
We have a lot of important work to do in getting Armenian senators in the US congress and having the Genocide recognized. May the deniers until eternity be relegated in cleaning the EU’s toilets.
Dear Mr. Serge Sarkisian, president of Armenia, isn’t it the time now for you to tell Davutoglu to go “F” himself and forget about all this stupid protocal? When will be the time that you guys (the goverment) comes to his senses and stop trusting Turkey? When is the time to stop being naieve? enough is enough.
Dear Serge,
I know that we are dealing with bunch of uncivilized people but we shouldn’t be going down to their level.
Yellow flag on the ground….
Unnecessary roughness is the call……
hi, i believe Sargsyan is well aware of this. He knows that you can never trust turkey. What they are trying to do
is to demonstrate (to EU, US etc) that armenia is willing to establish normal relations but turkey does not. Thats all.
Iy was a clever step (if it works, lets wait a bit..). Us, Russia etc. were pressing turkey to negotiate and open the
border. Now they refuse…This is OK for armenia.
could be true, 50% chance of playing a game!
The time has truly come for Asbarez to come up with a word different than ‘Slam’ to describe parties’ reaction in the protocols.
This is cheap editorial trick, and I cannot recount the number of times it has been used here in the past year or so.
My two cents on the protocol: they are not dead, and they will be ratified by Turkey and Armenia in late March, early April 2010.
I agree. They should have used the following: “After giving away the farm, Sarkisian attempts to negotiate on his knees.”
I totally agree as far as the usage of the word “slam” goes. Common Asbarez, get with the program. first of all it takes light years for you to post our comments, plus you are still running this like a family business.
Here are two accurate titles for Asbarez stories in late March and early April 2010 just in case Vahans predictions do pan out:
“Surreptitious Sultan Sympathizers Bow in Deference to their ottoman masters Again”
“Armenia’s Castrated Defeatists Drown in Dolma Diplomacy”
Vahan jun the protocols don’t have a hope in hell. Continue licking your wounds.
I agree with Vahan 100%, any Armenian, including Harut’s last editorial last week actually believes that the protocols are dead, are just naive. If anyone has noticed, after the constitutional court’s green light on the protocols, no one in the diaspora is complaining about the protocols, they are all running around in a Shourch Bar singing and dancing that the protocols are DEAD! Like the Armenians in Armenia calling the diasporan Armenians naive, that’s what our own political parties and organizations are NAIVE! Mark my words these protocols are going to be ratified and thanks to those Armenians for Obama!!!!!!
Hriar, if that is your real name, the protocols are dead. I’m listening to Gasparyan’s version of “My Brother Hunter” in memorium.
Yeah it’s my real name, I don’t need to hide behind a pseudonym to make comments. “Kiazer Souze”! However, you misspelled it the way that double faced Hovnanian does and I would have appreciated it, if you would have taken 2 seconds to spell my name right. I hope you are right, but history has shown how naive most Armenians are in trusting the deceptive tactics of turks.
Talat, I’m sorry if I misspelled your fake Armenian name. I think it may have been the censors at Azbarez. As you probably know, the people at Asbarez delete and clean up thoughts. You can send my kind regards to the ADL, AIPAC and the other masons as well.
Mr Kaizer Souze,
The “censors” at Asbarez, as you call us, are committed to facilitating thoughtful and constructive discourse among our readers. The comments section on our website is a forum for discussion, debate and the sharing of ideas. Your comments, however, are laden with racist remarks against Turks, Jews, Muslims, and even individuals. We do not condone that. Repeated comments that call for X or Y “Mongol” to go to “Jahanam and quickly” do not contribute to a healthy discourse, but rather bring down the level of discussion to a crass and pedestrian level. Comments of this nature, which demean our publication and disrespect our readers, will be sent to the trash, where they rightly belong. Thank you for your continued interest, but please, do try to be a bit more respectful in the future.
Both of you are typical Armenians, fighting over stupid things, diagreeing with each other, getting each other nerves, but your aim and goals are the same. Amazing we never learn.
I’m glad u used the pronoun we Sierjie
Prof. Davutoglu is quickly approaching the day that he will have to resign. His “zero problems” strategy is failing on all fronts.
I don’t envision that the protocols will be ratified because in their current form and content they are unacceptable for both Turkey and Armenia. Of course, the situation in Armenia is different because the ruling elites, including the parliament, are just a bunch of provincial- and narrow-minded crooks, unelected, corrupt, and unrepresentative. They could care less for their own citizens’ demands, the majority of whom are against the protocols. In Turkey, strong opposition represented by the radicals and the military, as well as domestic legislative limitations are hindering ratification. I think if, most probably, no revitalization of these stupid documents be made by April 2010, the U.S. leadership may (finally, after 95 long years) acknowledge the fact of Genocide either by a presidential proclamation or in the form of a congressional resolution currently re-introduced. But my gut feeling is that the defeatist, humiliating for Armenia, protocols kicked the bucket.
I don’t know why Sargsian said this: “I think you’ll agree that the authorities are to play a key role in breaking the stereotypes between our peoples and establishing an atmosphere of mutual trust.”
If the stereotype of Turkey in the Armenian mind is that of a genocidist, it’s fully justified. Don’t believe me? Ask Greeks, Cypriots, Assyrians, and Kurds. We all know.
Force the imposter and traitor Serzh Sargsian to resign. The only stereotype is Serzh Sargsian himself.
Dear krigor markarian
I suggest you spend a couple of minutes reading “Breaking news, Sarkissian sends protocols…)
Before you call our president a “traitor”. That is if you can understand what he’s talking about! History will prove who was right and who was not…
Hagop Varoujian
Are you for real?? This person who was elected by murdering his own citizens and injuring hundreds redefined the word traitor!!
To Hrair: I imagine back in the late 1990s, people like you and Vahan would as well stigmatize the rest of Armenians in Diaspora and Armenia who sensed the death of ill-fated Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission as ‘naïve’, but guess who tuned out to be naïve. Or you think that if representatives of power centers stood in the background and looking on Turkish and Armenian puppies signing the protocols, it means that everything must go the way they initially might have planned? No way, Jose. They are not the only players in this adventure, and even if they are, there are many underwater currents amongst them that we can be unaware of. Had these power centers been so powerful that people like you would think of themselves as clever-minded and of others as naïve, everything in the world that they have on their rotten agenda would have been executed without a hitch. It just doesn’t work that way, and you never know what forces could have been at play to remind Serjik to beware what he’s about to do. As things stand now, the protocols are in impasse. And that’s the reason the majority of Armenians are rejoicing because, unlike you, the majority clearly sees danger for the Motherland and the Armenian cause if these idiotic documents are ratified. I tend to believe that they’ll never be.
Karen, your comments don’t make any sense in regards to mine. Do you even picked up an Armenian newspaper and read the Armenian version of the news? Or do you just log on to asbarez.com and post comments? Maybe, if you did you would have realized a pattern. Your amature poli sci lecture is comical. My sarcastic comment was in response to commentaries in the diaspora media that most Armenians are rejoicing the fall out of these protocols. In reality I believe that Serjik and the turks are realizing that if they play this dragging game, the diaspora’s response is going to be pacified, and the protocols will be signed by the turks prior to April 24th. I am baffled at Serjik and the RoA for pushing and shoving the ratification of these protocols by the turkish parliament. The reason I used the adjective naive, is because, I believe that the turks are dragging the ratification of these protocols in order to get the most out of their buck from the west and Russia. By the way just to correct you Armenia in referred to as the Fatherland, not the motherland!!!!!!
Yes, Hrair. But language is <>:
sorry, asbarez does not take Armenian font.
So, I meant that language is majreni:
So Hrair, what are you getting at with the language comments? So what if Karen doesn’t read those papers? So what if he uses motherland instead of fatherland? What are you getting at?
You are right only if history will repeat itself. But it might not turn out like that this time. And who makes up “the majority of Armenians” anyway? The roughly 0.02% of SoCal’s Armenian population that protested Serjo in person when he visited?
Hey Karapet, let me see you rally 0.02% of the Armenians in southern cali, that’s a feat by itself. It was one of the largest demonstrations, where were those 99.8% of “serjik supporters” if they even existed. But then again how did you come up with 0.02%? Many participants were turned away because, the organizers underestimated the number of protesters and there weren’t enough buses to transport them to Beverly Hills “the hub of little Armenia”. If Serjik or his “consul general” really had the balls they would have held his “lecturing the diaspora representatives” in Glendale or Hollywood, and I’m convinced he would have faced over 200,000 demonstrators.
Hey Hrair, I did not round the decimal, my bad. Make that 2%, with 10,000 showing up out of 500,000, whatever, doesn’t really matter that much, but yes it was an error and a gross one since the percentage was 100 times smaller than it should have been. But it’s all based on guesses anyway, so correct me if you cannot avoid the impulse. Also, I am not suggesting that those who stayed home are “serjik supporters,” but I am suggesting that they don’t really care that much, and perhaps they shouldn’t, it’s their decision to make. But the danger of them not caring lies mostly in them being falsely represented by certain people, and so for that reason they should have done something, should have said something. These certain people can be the “nationalists” they want to be, that’s their decision, and it’s a fine one for them, but when they pretend to represent so many people, they are misrepresenting. And common, who takes buses in LA? Everyone has a car, as do I, and so I drove there. I was not turned away. And so many people could have driven there, just like they drive to go anywhere else. And if they wanted to take another bus, the Metro 720 was operating the whole time. All of this should be obvious, but I have an inkling you want to aggressively and passionately dispute it. If so, please spare me.
If ever the protocols are ratified, Armenians around the world as well as in Armenia should immediately do coup-detat and take over the government to be replaced by a reliable party and a newer government that speaks for the mamjority of the people of Armenia and the Diaspora.
Time is ticking toward April 24, watch those Turkish politicians, they love to reset Obama’s “road map” philosophy..
Actually, this article is well written. If you change your perspective and read all the details of what the article is saying, you will realize the politics of each statement. I read the comments and Tom is on the right track, go ahead take the time to read it again. If you understand it, I can call you my Hayrenageets.
Lets get serious people and not point fingers at each other, on any level of interaction. be it politics on a national level, or just a few countrymen.
So interesting that all is fine from their side, all milk and honey face – until we say “yes, those documents are ok, but we still won’t give up on the genocide and the documents have nothing to do with Karabagh” 🙂
If we stick to something, we are called ‘unconstructive’, if they stick to something they are ‘good diplomats’, ‘strong negotiators’ and everything else 🙂
From Davutoghlu’s reaction it is obivously visible what they really want from us they want us to commit suicide…
We already know that Turkey will use all their leverages to obstruct passage of Genocide resolutions. Last year it was the Road map. This April it will be the Protocols. next year they’ll come up with another pressure on US Congress. If the genocide is recognized by US and Turkey then there would be no Genocide excuses and the road to normalization would be easier.
Its time for US to pass the resolution.
Garo
After Sultan Hamid massacred hundreds of thousands Armenians during his rule.
In past Armenians trusted the new Turkish government in power… “Young Turks” …Then what happened?
They committed Armenian Genocide by trying to wipeout Armenians from Earth and stole our Western Armenia!
After our Sartarabad Victory, they were bringing reinforcements to conquer our remaining Armenia, to save our remaining Armenia we had to surrender our country to the Soviet Communists! Otherwise There was no more Armenia!
Mr. President and Government of Armenia, haven’t you learned yet that Turkish government can never be trusted?
Their MOTO is “Pan Turkism” and Armenia is the Only country that’s preventing them from making it real!
If you are so close in relationship with Russia, why don’t you tell the Russian Government to open their classified documents, to show and prove to the world that during Stalin and Lenin, that they illegally cut our land in chunks and gave Artsakh and it’s regions to Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan to Azerbaijan, Akhalkalak to Georgia, Western Armenia to Turkey!!??
All this conflicts between governments and back and forth for peaceful resolutions…. To me it’s nonsense, it’s all irrelevant and waist of time.
You want to be our Armenian People’s our Armenian Nation’s All time Historic Hero?
Then make this happen!
I am sure we all want one thing for our country: freedom and prosperity.. free from crooks, robbers and liars…
Each of us have a different way of viewing the matter and one may not necessarily be wrong.. everyone is correct in their own mind..
However, lets keep the end result in mind at all times.. we are working on an end result that i am sure every Armenian would want…
Taghem et anter shuni gluxa (both Davutoglu and Serj) for causing all this commotion and now they will pay either way..
I hope Turkey with its underdogs and overdogs, just dogs in general dissapear from this planet.. to clear the air and the environment.. we have enough parasites in the world.. dont’ need more like them…
God Bless the first Christian nation and people: Armenia and Armenians
G
Let’s not forget we are all on the same team here. We all want Armenia to thrive. We just have different oppinions on what is the best path. God bless all Armenians.
Actually, Hrair, I logged on to asbarez.com for the first time to make my first ever comment. Generally, I’m reluctant to engage myself in lengthy discussions online, but at the same time I can’t stand cock-assuredness and sarcasm of some of my countrymen depicting themselves as know-it-alls, and others as ‘naïve’. For that I don’t really need to pick up an Armenian newspaper since, as you may know, all of them are controlled by Serjik’s illegitimate regime. There are many other more reliable sources of information in Russian, English, and French that I use in order to try to evaluate the process of these idiotic protocols. And it was just a comment not a poli sci lecture. Sorry if it left an impression of a lecture on you. I don’t think it was that complicated to be perceived as a lecture. But, of course, it’s up to your intellectual capabilities.
You contend that Serjik and the turks are playing a dragging game so that the diaspora’s response be pacified, and the protocols be signed by the turks prior to April 24th. The question here is why would turks care about pacifying the diaspora response before ratifying the protocols? I understand why Serjik would, but why would turks who could care less about the diaspora reaction and much, MUCH more about the domestic consumption? You also maintain that the turks are dragging the ratification in order to get the most out of their buck from the West and Russia. These stupid protocols have been worked on for years with the West and Russia paying close attention at the deliberations process. My reading into the process suggests that with the signing of protocols virtually everything has been agreed upon, and it’s highly unlikely that turks have any room to get the most out of their buck. On the contrary, I think if they don’t ratify the protocols in their present form, harsher measure may follow from the West and Russia, the Genocide resolution in the US Congress being one of them.
Again, as things stand now, the protocols are dead and that’s the reason why most Armenians are rejoicing the fall out of these ill-fated documents. And I say most or majority. If 0.02% (who counted them?) showed up on the streets the general mood within the diaspora and most of my co-ethnics in Armenia is negative. As long as it’s negative, again, I tend to believe that the protocols won’t be ratified. This is not the issue that Armenians can be, as you say, pacified. There are forces who will never allow the ratification to happen in both Turkey and Armenia. The only ‘pacification’ would be in the following form. All stupid provisions re: historical commission, international treaties, and acknowledgment of existing borders in the region must be removed and the protocols should read ONE sentence according to the international practice with similar memorandums of understanding: “The governments of Turkey and Armenia hereby wish to establish diplomatic relations and open the common border.” PERIOD. That would ‘pacify’ the diaspora and respective domestic societies.
Yes, and by the way, is English Oxford Dictionary a trustworthy and reliable source in English language for you? If, I hope, it is, then, just to correct you, both ‘motherland’ and ‘fatherland’ carry equal semantic meaning as ‘a person’s native country.’ You might have been thinking in Armenian with ‘Hayastan’ being referred to as the ‘fatherland’, but this discussion forum is conducted in English, you know…
I really don’t want to waste my time and break down your response point by point. I don’t want to use this form for that purpose. Sometimes one believes that by distorting facts fiction becomes reality. Bud, FYI the Soviet Union collapsed, and you should not live in paranoia.
Honestly it’s amazing how individuals like yourself make these assumptions that Asbarez is one of “all news outlets controlled by Serjik…” Guess, that flew by the editors of Asbarez.
The adjective that I used that upset you so much, validates my point by your response. Just in case you might log on to asbarez.com, I’m sure the temptation is there, read Harut Sassounian’s editorial dated Feb. 13th. I will leave Mr. Sassounian’s editorial as my response to your lengthy nonsense.
I’m even willing to pay for a years subscription to asbarez, so that you may enlighten yourself and realize that Asbarez is not controlled by Serjik!!!! Now, that is an offer you shouldn’t refuse.
By the way, I have never heard of the English Oxford dictionary. Is it one of those publications from the Soviet era? Are the publishers the same as the Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia?
I’ve heard of the Oxford English Dictionary, and their definition of a “fatherland” is the nation of one’s “fathers”, “forefathers” or “patriarchs”. Unless you have first hand knowledge that our forefather, sorry, foremother was Haykouhi? No where in the OED, trust me I looked up quiet a few editions is motherland and fatherland used alternatively and carry equal semantic meaning. I am not going to be condescending as you. Just to give you an example, the word fatherland is a reference to a handful of countries i.e.the Germans, the Lebanese, the Armenians to name a few, whose reference is never lost in translation. Get with the program! You are living in America and writing and speaking American right!!!!! Living in a country where freedom is cherished doesn’t give you the right to distort and twist the truth in order to make your point.
I am also looking forward to seeing the day after 24 April. As I said before, Obama shall avoid pronouncing genocide, whether it happened or not, whether Armenians are right or not, US senate cannot pass the genocide bill, as long as the US and Turkey have vested interests.
I read Admin’s comment with deep pleasure, even after censoring, some comments are too hateful to read. Please respect each other, we are all human at the end. You cannot see the whole truth because of your blind hate against us.
I agree. It is blindful hate and nothing more. We as Turks must unite and stop the hate. Recognizing the genocide is important, but sticking together and fighting the hate of armenians is necessary as well. It is the only solution.