U.S. secretary of state reveals why no statements followed Zurich signing ceremony

“Well, we had a good night in Zurich, watching the signing of the protocols between Turkey and Armenia. And now the process continues. We, obviously, are committed to doing everything we can to build on the milestone that was reached today, but it's challenging. And there is a lot of very difficult, complex issues that have to continually be discussed and worked out. But I am very pleased that we were able to get the protocols signed, and now we move on to the next phase of this,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, according to the Department of State.

When asked what was in the protocol that they objected to and what did the Armenians object to in the statement that was to be delivered by the Turkish foreign minister, Clinton answered:

“There were questions of interpretation as to what should or should not be said. These are issues that Phil and I have been dealing with for months. And we were able to get everybody to understand that it was imperative that we go forward, and so we did. I was on the phone with Phil, with Minister Nalbandian, with Mr. Davutoglu. And then we wanted to get everybody in the same place, instead of having the Swiss come to see us, and then talking to everybody on the phone. So that's when I went in and spent time talking through some of the concerns that had been expressed, and brought Minister Nalbandian with us back to the university, so that the chief Swiss negotiator, (inaudible), plus our other counterparts, Ministers Lavrov, Kouchner, Solana, and --

Referring to the 3-minute statements that were to follow the signing ceremony, Clinton said, “Well, first of all, it got awfully late. I was already two hours late. Lavrov was late. Everybody was late. The foreign minister had already missed his plane. So it was sensible to get the signing done, and then people could issue their statements, which I am sure they're doing. And we're working on a joint statement among the witnesses.”

“This is a diplomatic act of varying degrees of difficulty. Kind of like diving every day. Some of you were with me in Honduras. That was also a very challenging negotiation, which finally worked out very well.

But I think it's just what you sign up for. I mean, this is -- when you're trying to help people resolve long-standing problems between themselves, it is a very challenging process. People have a lot of history that they have to contend with. They have all kinds of domestic, political challenges. The Armenians, as we saw with President Sargsian's tour, have people around the world with strong feelings. So, it is -- you know, it is a challenge, but that is what we're trying to work out here. Well, they're both going to be submitting the protocols to their parliaments, and it's going to be difficult. But that's the next step of the process,” Clinton highlighted.

/Panorama.am/