MANOYAN SAYS ARMENIA SHOULD WITHDRAW FROM TALKS WITH TURKEY
Yerkir
10.12.2009 15:01
Yerevan (Yerkir) – Kiro Manoyan, the director of the ARF Bureau’s
Hay Dat and Political Affairs Office, has said that the Erdogan-Obama
meeting was actually in Turkey’s interest.
Manoyan told a news conference on December 10 that Turkey’s attempts
to condition the Armenian-Turkish relations on the Artsakh settlement
is an excuse for Armenia to withdraw from the talks, accusing the
Turkish leadership of changing the rules of the game and derailing
the talks. The sooner Armenia leaves the talks, the less losses it
would suffer, Manoyan said.
Speaking of the "mystery of the reasonable timeline" for the Turkish
parliament to ratify the protocols, Manoyan said that it looks like
the Turkish parliament would do it next February or March. Turkey
is likely to find a diplomatic game by next April to prevent Obama
from using the word genocide, Manoyan added. He also said that it
is now obvious that establishing relations with Armenia is no more
a priority for Turkey, and that it now is trying harder to get its
nose into the Karabakh talks.
"The fact that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are trying to get ahead
of the Karabakh settlement logics indicates there is pressure. And
as long as Azerbaijan fails to realize that Karabakh’s status can’t
be one under Azerbaijan, there will be no progress," Manoyan said.
Manoyan added that Karabakh’s participation in the settlement talks
is crucial, but unless Armenian changes is approach it is not going
to happen. What is necessary is that Armenia demands that Karabakh
be a party to the negotiations, Manoyan said, otherwise, Karabakh
will always be seen as a barrier.