Protocols Not Dead but Rather in Parliamentary Shelves and Waiting, Says Murad Merjan

The Armenia-Turkey Protocols are not dead, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Turkish parliament, Murat Merjan, said at an interview with the Turkish NTV TV channel, referring to Armenia's decision to suspend their ratification in the Armenian parliament.

"For the Protocols to die, Armenian authorities must withdraw their signature from those documents. That is to say, theoretically we can say that the Protocols may die when the Armenian authorities recall them from the parliament or withdraw their signature from the Protocols. Besides the term 'frozen' is not a proper one. The most correct characterization for the recent developments in the process might, perhaps, be to say that currently the Protocols are kind of waiting in the Armenian and Turkish parliamentary committees. That is to say, we would not have been mistaken to say that those documents have been put in the drawer of the Foreign Affairs Committees in the two parliaments," said Merjan.

Asked what he meant by saying that the Protocols are waiting in the parliamentary committee, i.e. after what satisfactory steps for Turkey they might be brought to the parliamentary agenda Merjan said the following: "For the Protocols to be brought to our [parliamentary] committee, it is necessary to see such developments which will not run counter to our people's conscience. First of all, as we have stated for several times, Armenia and Azerbaijan should settle the current problems ... as the main reason for the closure of the border with Armenia were not the disagreements between Armenia and Turkey but rather Armenia's seizure of Azerbaijani territories. That is to say, that Armenia and Azerbaijan should develop a mechanism to resolve the problems. The second, and equally important, point is the ruling by the Armenian Constitutional Court over the Armenia-Turkey Protocols."