Turkey may ratify one of the Zurich Protocols in April 2015, the head of the "Modus Vivendi" centre, Ara Papyan, said at today's press-conference.
He said that the Armenian-Turkish Protocols are like a Damocles's sword hanging above Armenia and a serious obstacle for international recognition of the Armenian genocide. The expert thinks that just because of the Protocols many countries do not want to interfere in the Armenian-Turkish process. "If Serzh Sargsyan recalls signature from under the Protocols, in that case a new stage in the Armenian-Turkish reconciliation and the Armenian genocide recognition may start. But if he does not recall, Ankara may ratify one of the Protocols in April 2015, and in such a way direct the ball to the Armenian part of the field", - he said.
The expert thinks that Armenia should start raising an issues of occupation of the Armenian territories by Turkey and reparation of damages to the offspring of the victims of the Armenian genocide. "But as long as we have the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, all the processes will be frozen", - the expert concluded.
To note, the Armenian-Turkish Protocols were signed on 10 October 2009 in Zurich, but were not ratified by parliaments of Armenia and Turkey as Ankara had put forward preconditions on the way of their ratification. On 22 April President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan initiated freezing of the ratification process in the Armenian parliament. And on 20 September 2014, Sargsyan said that the Armenian-Turkish Protocols may be removed from the agenda of the Armenian parliament.