What everyday Yerevantsis are saying about the current status of the Protocols:

“I think the current threats, from both sides, are a game,” an engineer from the Academy of Sciences said. “This is all so predictable. To appease their publics, they’re putting up a tough line. The Turks are saying they’re against Armenian Constitutional Court ruling, that the Protocols can’t be ratified after the ruling, which dared to mention Karabagh. And the Armenian government is happy, that by the Court mentioning Karabagh in their decision, they’ve quieted things down here for now, at least somewhat. But the truth is, in the end, both sides will ratify the Protocols, and, in the long run, Armenia will first give up the territories, then Karabagh.”

“You’re wrong,” the store owner said. “Both sides are preparing to restart the war. This was decided long ago, in the capitals of countries far larger than Armenia or Azerbaijan. The Protocols will fall through, the Azeris will make threats, the Turks will say nothing, or, ‘what can we do?’ and the war will start. Serge will be a hero for the Armenians, for a while, but if the war doesn’t go well, and the Azeris and their Turkish allies are quite ready this time, watch out, we could be seeing the beginning of the end.”

A taxi driver had a different perspective: “I’m all for opening the border with Turkey. I see only benefit for Armenia. Who is against opening the border? I know someone who brings different goods from Turkey and sells them here. He and two others bring these particular goods. If the border opens, and these goods come here freely, this businessman loses out. This is why he’s against the border opening.

“And the Dashnaks. They need an issue...the Genocide, hatred of the Turks. Also, they know their standing is low here, mainly since they stayed in the Coalition so long, and reaped the benefits, financially and otherwise. So they had no choice, no other way to save face, than adopting this anti-Protocol stance. Well, I don’t like Turks either, but I’m a realist. They’re here anyway, Turks and Azeris. Opening the border won’t make any big difference.”