Ratification of the Zurich protocols - the documents looking to normalize Armenian-Turkish relations - by Armenia alone would bring no result, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with "Pozner" TV Program.
"When launching the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation in 2009, I suggested the then president of Turkey to establish relations without preconditions, open the border etc. I must say that the talks and the signing of the protocols met with mixed reception inside Armenia. Diaspora showed the utmost resistance to the protocols. I was reluctant to visit all the big Armenians communities abroad within a week to explain why I advocate for normalization of the relations with Turkey," the president said. The documents signed in Zurich, he said, are still on agenda. If Turkey ratifies then, Yerevan will do the same. The president said he recalled the protocols from the Parliament to show Ankara that Armenia would not wait endlessly for Turkey to ratify them. It was a political step. Legally, the protocols would become invalid if Armenia withdrew its signatures from under them. "I pin no hopes with Ankara to ratify them. When signing the protocols in presence of the foreign ministers of the three permanent members of the UN Security Council, we said Armenia will ratify the documents within few hours after the Turkish Parliament does it," he said. Armenia secured itself against Turkey's possible refusal to ratify the protocols. Immediately after the documents were signed, there were already opinions that the Turkish parliament will not ratify the documents waiting for a good opportunity. "That is why, once the documents were signed, we announced immediately that Armenia will ratify the documents only after Turkey. Simply, ratification by Armenia alone would bring no result," the president said.