The Terminated Armenia-Turkey Protocols Should Be a Lesson for Armenia’s Leaders

Finally, the President of Armenian officially declared null and void the infamous Armenia-Turkey Protocols during a meeting of the National Security Council last week. President Sarkisian had made several announcements since 2009, warning that he would remove the Protocols from the Parliament’s agenda unless Turkey ratified them shortly. Sarkisian’s most recent such warning was made last September, during his remarks at the United Nations General Assembly, stating that he would declare the Protocols null and void before the spring of 2018.

A banner reads “No to denial; no the concession; no to Protocols” at a 2009 protest in downtown Toronto (Photo: AYF Toronto)

The Protocols were signed by Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Oct. 10, 2009, in Zurich, Switzerland. Also present at the signing ceremony were the Foreign Ministers of Russia, France, Switzerland, U.S. Secretary of State, and high-ranking officials of the European Union.

The lengthy text of the Protocols called for the opening of the borders between Armenia and Turkey, and establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The Protocols also included many other unrelated matters, such as recognizing the existing Armenian-Turkish border and the establishment of a historic commission to examine problems between the two countries—meaning the Armenian Genocide.

As a result, there was a worldwide outcry against adoption of the Protocols with protests both in Armenia and many Diasporan communities. Shortly before the signing of the Protocols on Oct. 10, 2009, President Sarkisian embarked on a worldwide tour of major Armenian communities in Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Beirut, and Rostov-on-Don (Russia) ostensibly to listen to their concerns regarding the Protocols. However, it was clear from his remarks at these meetings that he had made up his mind to go ahead with the Protocols, and the intent of the tour was to persuade Diaspora Armenians to give up their objections. During his visits overseas, President Sarkisian was greeted with angry protests and confrontations making his propaganda tour a failure.

During his stop in Los Angeles on Oct. 4, 2009, he met with leaders of 60 Armenian organizations with the overwhelming majority criticizing the pending Protocols, while thousands of Armenians demonstrated outside the hotel where the meeting was taking place.

In my remarks at that meeting, I cautioned the president that Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s President, by objecting to the Protocols, would block their eventual ratification by Turkey. Ironically, such an outcome would mean that Azerbaijan’s President, not Armenian’s President, would be inadvertently defending Armenia’s interests.

It was clear to many Armenians, both inside and outside of Armenia, that Turkey had no intention of opening its mutual border. The Protocols were a Turkish ploy to pressure Armenia to make territorial concessions to Azerbaijan on Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh).

In fact, the signing ceremony in 2009 was delayed by several hours when it became known that Turkey’s Foreign Minister, in his remarks, would link the unrelated subject of the Karabagh conflict to the Protocols. Only the last-minute intervention by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton temporarily resolved the dispute and the two sides proceeded to sign the Protocols.

However, in the years following the signing ceremony, the Turkish leaders made repeated statements that they had no intention to ratify the Protocols unless Armenia made concessions on Artsakh. Indeed, Azerbaijan had vigorously protested the signing of the Protocols and warned Turkey not to proceed with ratification. Azerbaijan intended to pressure Armenia to make territorial concessions on Artsakh by keeping Armenia’s borders with Turkey closed.

Armenia’s leaders had allowed major foreign powers to pressure them into making a decision that was contrary to the Armenian people’s interests. As a small state, it is understandable that Armenia could not act like its larger and more powerful Turkish neighbor, which repeatedly flaunts the wishes of the international community. Nevertheless, Armenia’s leaders could at least make an effort to keep foreign intervention to a minimum.

Another lesson Armenia’s leaders should learn from the Protocols’ debacle is that before they embark on initiatives that affect Armenian interests worldwide, they should hold serious consultations to make sure that the majority of Armenians in Armenia and the Diaspora are on board with their decisions. Naturally, internal matters affecting those living within Armenia’s borders are their prerogative, however, issues that affect all Armenians, such as the Armenian Genocide, Armenian territorial demands from Turkey, and the final settlement of the Artsakh conflict, are major concerns to all Armenians. Long before signing any documents on these subjects, Armenia’s leadership should ensure that most Armenians agree with them. Otherwise, we shall see the repetition of ugly confrontations in Armenia and the Diaspora with Armenian authorities.

I raise these concerns in response to President Sarkisian’s two statements last week:

  1. “When we started the negotiation process, we naturally predicted two outcomes—positive or negative.”
  2. “If we get proposals tomorrow, or the next day, we will be ready to discuss them.”

Sarkisian’s statements indicate that Armenia’s leaders have not recognized their mistaken approach to Armenian-Turkish issues. It is not true that Armenia did not lose anything. Turkey manipulated the Protocols to ensure that no foreign country meddled in the Armenian Genocide issue. In fact, U.S. President Obama also exploited the Protocols to refrain from using the term Armenian Genocide in his April 24 statement of 2009 and in the subsequent seven years.

Furthermore, President Sarkisian’s statements indicate that Armenia is apt to make the same mistake again. For years, he had been declaring that Armenia is ready to ratify the Protocols the same day that Turkey ratifies them. Fortunately, Turkey never ratified the Protocols, preventing Armenia from taking an action contrary to its own national interests.

 

Harut Sassounian

Harut Sassounian

California Courier Editor
Harut Sassounian is the publisher of The California Courier, a weekly newspaper based in Glendale, Calif. He is the president of the Armenia Artsakh Fund, a non-profit organization that has donated to Armenia and Artsakh one billion dollars of humanitarian aid, mostly medicines, since 1989 (including its predecessor, the United Armenian Fund). He has been decorated by the presidents of Armenia and Artsakh and the heads of the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic churches. He is also the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

6 Comments

  1. Armenian Nation must learn from our sad history of past! We had enough of foreign power influence over our own national interest!

  2. Sadly, the reason for the timing of the cancellation has more to do with US influence than because any Armenian government “came to its senses.” The US is undeniably unhappy with Turkey’s incursions into Syria and has given the signal to Armenia that it’s ok to terminate the Protocols in order to send a message to Turkey. Sorry.

  3. POOR,UNHAPPY AND IN WRONG DIRECTION MOVING ARMENIANS , STOP PLAYING LIKE A SMALL KIDS IN THE STREET , YOU ARE NOT A JEWISH AND THE TURKS ARE NOT A GERMANS ! FORGET AND FORGIVE EACH OTHER , HISTORY IS PAST TIME !

    • “FORGET AND FORGIVE EACH OTHER”
      I especially liked “each other” in this clause. Curious to know what Turks are urged to forget and forgive? Millions of killed and forcibly deported? Theft of ancestral lands? Denial of heinous crime?

      “HISTORY IS PAST TIME”
      A pearl of Turkish “mentality”… Do Turks know or capable of understanding that there is no present without the past?

      “UNHAPPY ARMENIANS”
      Another pearl of Turkish “mentality”… I should like to see Turks whose ancestors were barbarously killed, forcibly deported, tortured, mutilated, gang raped, burnt and buried alive. Will you be happy, huh, Turks?

    • Seems to me, that you have justified Holocaust against Jewish people!By the way Germans recognized Armenian Genocide.They are teaching small kids that Jihadism, like Nazism taken place in Ottomans Turkey in 1915-23, when Germany was an ally of Ottomans. They wiped out entire indigenous population of Western Armenia!

  4. Redjeb: Jewish are Jewish, and we Armenians are Armeninas, we are not playing to be Jewish. We don’t have to apologyze anyone and we never forget. 1915 never again…

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