Turkish-Armenian negotiation deadlock.

The Washington meeting of Sargsyan and Erdogan has brought to light signs of regression.
On April 12th-13, US President Barack Obama hosted meetings with Serzh Sargsyan and Recep Erdogan on the sidelines of the Washington nuclear safety summit - a bilateral meeting of the Armenian president and Turkish Prime Minister also was held. The US president called on the sides to invest more effort to secure Armenian-Turkish rapprochement and the ratification of the diplomatic protocols in the parliaments of both countries.

The meeting of Sargsyan and Erdogan continued for 75 minutes, and no statement for the press was made upon its completion. Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, addressing the opening ceremony of the Center for Islamic Studies, said, that the events of 1915 should be examined by a historical commission, not legislative authorities, saying, "No parliament makes records of history, so no parliament should evaluate historical events".

 Before the trip to Washington, Erdogan many times appealed to the Armenian diaspora not to get involved in the Armenian-Turkish negotiation process, and he also said that the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement was an important condition for the parliamentary ratification of the protocols.

According to the statement of the Turkish premier, Ankara is for rapprochement with Armenia and peacemaking in the Caucasus, but the Turkish parliament is not ready to ratify the protocols yet.

"The protocols will be voted down if they are introduced to parliament today. First we have to prepare the ground for their ratification," Erdogan said.

After the meeting with Erdogan, Sargsyan visited Washington’s National Cathedral to lay flowers on the grave of the 28th US president Woodrow Wilson.

"Our position is clear: Turkey can not speak the language of initial conditions with Armenia and the entire Armenian nation. We just won't let this happen. We are not willing to question the fact of genocide or pretend to believe that Turkey can play any positive role in the Nagorno-Karabakh peacemaking process,” Sargsyan told representatives of the Armenian Diaspora in the Cathedral.

The statements of the Turkish premier and the Armenian president make it quite obvious that both sides hold polar opinions. During the post-meeting briefing, Armenian Minister for Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandyan said that Erdogan "tried to bring up the Karabakh issue, but met a precise response - Armenian-Turkish rapprochement should not be dependant on Karabakh problem, otherwise it will bring to halt the solution of both issues."

"If Turkey played the wrong card, it is not our problem. In case Ankara has changed its view after the signing of the protocols, we should draw conclusions and decide whether there are any perspectives in the negotiation process.  The last meeting has convinced the Armenian side in the necessity of taking further steps. When the time comes, the Armenian president will make public our decisions," said the Armenian foreign minister. He also added that if the Turkish side is willing to continue the negotiation process, it should show readiness to ratify the protocols and patch up ties with Armenia without any preconditions, meeting the expectations of the international community.

Erdogan offered the opinion that the US president will not use the word "genocide" in his traditional address to the Armenian diaspora in the USA on April 24. Speaking about preconditions he said: "Besides word "preconditions" in the protocols, signed in Zurich, there is also phrase "to establish peace in the region". So, whether it is possible to put aside Azerbaijan when we speak about peacemaking process in the region?" According to Erdoga, the Armenian-Azerbaijani border was closed due to the conflict, so it is obvious that it can be opened only after establishing peace in the region.”

Armenian National Assembly deputy Grair Karapetyan said that the meeting demonstrated that Azerbaijan and Turkey work in close cooperation, saying, "The statement of the Turkish premier that Turkish-Armenian rapprochement is possible only in case of Karabakh conflict settlement makes it quite obvious".

Yet, the director of the Oriental Studies Institute, professor Ruben Safrastyan, expressed a positive view on the Armenian-Turkish protocols and believe the negotiation process will move off dead center: "There is not any alternative to the establishment of the Turkish-Armenian intergovernmental relations. Sooner or later the situation will change." He is sure that the process will shift into a new phase, and the Turkish side will sign protocols without preconditions. "On this phase the Armenian side will get an advantageous position to get ahead."

Meanwhile according to the information of the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, the sides reached an agreement over the project of the Turkish-Armenian relations "road map".

Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for VK.