Ankara Deems Yerevan’s Protocol Withdrawl an Erroneous and Baseless Step

ANKARA — Turkey lashed out Tuesday at Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian for his decision to withdraw from parliament a landmark deal aimed at repairing relations between the two nations.

“We don’t think this is the right approach by Armenia, it is an erroneous and baseless step,” said Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic in Ankara, quoted by Turkish media.

Ankara will remain committed to the protocols signed between Turkey and Armenia aiming to normalize bilateral relations, Bilgiç has said “Turkey will remain committed to the normalization process it pursues as the main purpose of the protocols,” Bilgiç said, branding the step by Armenia “unfortunate” and “wrong.” Bilgiç also added that the step was an apparent sign of Armenia’s inconsistent attitude over the protocols.

Bilgiç told reporters on Feb. 17 that Yerevan has decided to withdraw the Protocols in order “to create a reason to accuse Turkey” ahead of the 100th anniversary of the massacres of Ottoman Armenians.