20 March 2010 / SAMİ KOHEN MİLLİYET,
The announcement by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu that the protocols signed with Armenia will not be withdrawn from the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission despite the opposition’s insistence shows the following:
1) The government is determined to stick with the protocols, which aim to normalize relations with Yerevan despite all challenges; and 2) The US and Sweden’s approval of genocide resolutions does not affect this determination, at least at this point. In other words, Turkey is not throwing away the protocols as a reaction to these decisions. I think this is a rational attitude. If Ankara were to repudiate the protocols, it would have drawn strong criticism from the international community (from the US to Russia), which wanted this agreement to be implemented, and it would have been accused of missing a historic opportunity. This would have only benefited militants in the Armenian diaspora who are leading the genocide campaign.
