YEREVAN, APRIL 23, NOYAN TAPAN. A joint statement was issued by the political boards of Republican party of Armenia, Prosperous Armenia Party, and Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) Party making up the political coalition in Armenia's National Assembly. The statement reads: "Over the past two years the Armenian president, with the assistance of the political majority of the RA National Assembly, has taken consistent steps on the establishment and development of Armenian-Turkish relations without preconditions. The United States, Russia, France and Switzerland have made their active contribution to this process. Numerous countries responded positively to this initiative, underlining its exceptional importance for the establishment of regional stability and the solution of the existing problems through a civilized dialog. The constructive efforts of the Armenian side and the expectations of the internatioal community have continuously encountered the Turkish side's inconsistent and evasive positions and its policy of setting preconditions, which has led the process of ratifying Armenian-Turkish protocols signed on 10 October 2009 in Zurich within a reasonable period into a deadlock. The political majority of the RA National Assembly considers as unacceptable the statements made by the Turkish side, particularly by Prime Minister Erdogan in recent days, which again directly link the ratification of Armenian-Turkish protocols by Turkish parliament with the settlement of the conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. At the same time, taking into consideration the fact that the Turkish side's refusal to ratify the protocols without preconditions within a reasonable time frame renders meaningless the continuation of their ratification process in the National Assembly of Armenia at the given stage, the coalition considers it necessary to suspend this process and withdraw the issue's discussion from the agenda of four-day sessions of the National Assembly until the Turkish side is ready for further continuation of the process without preconditions".

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