Armenian nationalist party threatens president over Turkey protocols
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 14 January 2010 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Armenian nationalist party threatens president over Turkey protocols, 14 January 2010, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4b59adb544.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
January 14, 2010
Armenian Revolutionary Federation supporters rally in Yerevan to condemn agreement with Turkey in October.
YEREVAN – The nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun) said it will seek to depose President Serzh Sarkisian if his fence-mending agreements with Turkey are ratified by parliament, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports.
The warning came one day after the Constitutional Court upheld the legality of the two protocols normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations, a decision on January 12 that the Dashnaktsutiun party had strongly condemned.
A Dashnaktsutiun statement criticized the ruling while highlighting the importance of some of its passages in interpreting the protocols' implications.
The Constitutional Court indicated that the documents cannot have any bearing on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict or inhibit Armenia's pursuit of greater international recognition of the mass killing of ethnic Armenians in Ottoman Turkey nearly 100 years ago as genocide.
It specifically mentions the 1990 Armenian declaration of independence from the Soviet Union that refers to the "genocide of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia."
Dashnaktsutiun interpreted this as a de facto invalidation of a provision of the Turkish-Armenian protocols that commits Armenia to unequivocally recognizing its existing border with Turkey – something that is strongly opposed by Armenian nationalists.
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
