DEMEANING SIGNING FOR DEMEANING PROTOCOLS: On Saturday, October 10, we witnessed two consequential but sadly conflicting events. One was the signing of the miscalculated and ill-constructed Armenia-Turkey protocols, despite great domestic and international concern and opposition among Armenians. The second was President Sargsyan’s last-minute address to the Armenian people, issued just hours ahead of the scheduled signing, the content of which was directly and unabashedly contradictory to the content of the protocols.
Indeed, so different are the two that it can even be said that the president’s arguments were the best reasons to reject the protocols. The address insisted that there are irrefutable realities and we have undeniable rights; the protocols, on the other hand, question the first and eliminate the second. Armenia, without cause and without necessity, conceded its historic rights, both regarding genocide recognition and what the address so justly called ‘hayrenazrkum’ – a denial and dispossession of our patrimony.
Further, the provision for ratification of the protocols by the Turkish parliament comes in the context of repeated and forceful calls by high-level Turkish officials who repeatedly affirm that ratification hinges on a favorable Karabakh settlement process. Given this, any Armenian insistence of no-linkage between Armenia-Turkey and Karabakh-Azerbaijan is not credulous.
Given the last-minute scrambling and hesitation in Zurich, it is difficult to imagine a more demeaning signing or a more demeaning document. The parties themselves and the representatives of the world powers, all were present but all remained silent. When such a ‘historic’ moment goes by with none of the sides or the witnesses able to say anything acceptable or in agreement with the rest, either about the long-awaited event itself or the content of the documents being signed – it is difficult to see how this document can provide the serious basis of trust and respect necessary for stable and respectful relations between the parties.