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Turkey: Armenia must be held accountable for crimes in Azerbaijanâ€™s Khojaly

14 December 2017 16:03 (UTC +04:00)

Armenia must be held accountable for the crimes committed in Azerbaijan’s Khojaly town, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in response to a statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry regarding the Armenian-Turkish protocols Dec. 14.

According to the statement, claims by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian do not reflect the truth and aim at misleading the world public opinion.

“The Constitutional Court of Armenia, with its ruling on 12 January 2010 introduced additional preconditions and restrictive clauses that are against the letter and spirit of the Protocols. Subsequently Serzh Sargysyan, President of Armenia, publicly announced on 22 April 2010 that the ratification of the Protocols was suspended. Lately, Sargysyan, in his speech during the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly on 19 September 2017, made groundless claims blaming Turkey for the delay in the ratification of the Protocols and stated that they will declare the Protocols null and void in the absence of progress and meet the spring of 2018 without those Protocols,” says the statement.

The statement states that despite Armenia’s negative stance on the Protocols, Turkey is committed to the primary clauses of the Protocols.

“These Protocols are still on the agenda of the Turkish Grand National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Commission and for their ratification, it is essential that a favorable political atmosphere and peace in the South Caucasus is secured. Turkey’s primary target pertaining to the Protocols process is to realize the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia in such a way that, comprehensive peace and stability in the South Caucasus is provided. In this vein, it is necessary that in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict progress is achieved, based on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and in light of the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council. In any case, Armenia must put an end to its invasion of Azerbaijan’s territories,” reads the statement.

The statement notes that Nalbandian’s claims on genocide in his speech do not reflect the truth either.

“Our expectation from Armenia is that it answers for one of the gravest crimes against humanity in recent history, the Khojaly Massacre, rather than dealing with controversial historical events” says the statement.

Armenian Foreign Minister Nalbandian accused Turkey of, his statement during his visit to Athens on 13 December 2017, held Ankara responsible for the delay in the ratification of the Protocols signed between Turkey and Armenia on 10 October 2009.