“Turkey has stepped out of the shadows and now threatens to settle into the prominent place on the world stage once held by its predecessor,” writes foreign policy expert John Feffer.

Vartan Oskanian, who currently heads Civilitas Foundation, a Yerevan-based think tank, said in his article published on Monday that “it was clear from the beginning that a prolonged presentation of the desirable as real is not sustainable, and that the government would have to finally acknowledge reality.”

Armenia, that ancient civilization deprived by the tragedies of yore of its capacity for contemporary statecraft, needs immediately to put its house in democratic order. Finally responsible for its own record, it also has legitimate expectations of the international partnership.

While the western media is reacting to the signing of protocols Saturday as if 100 years of Turkish-Armenian animosity has been whitewashed by however much ink is required to sign foreign ministers' names, statements by Turkey’s Prime Minister reveal a different and perhaps more accurate picture that demands prudent examination before Armenia’s parliament signs off on the documents.

Just a day after Armenia’s Foreign Minister did as he was told (by Hillary Clinton and others) to put pen to paper, Turkey's Prime Minister Recyip Erdogan says Armenia must withdraw from the occupied territories bordering Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to news reports Erdogan says Turkey cannot take a "positive step" toward opening the joint border with Armenia until Armenian troops give up ground they overtook in the battle to secure a perimeter for Karabakh.

Serzh Sargsyan may not be (in fact, isn’t) the president we wish for, but:

Criticism he has received since Wednesday night’s football match v. Turkey is simply absurd and diminishes the voices of those who have just reason to blister the president with legitimate disapproval, but lose credibility themselves in pettiness.

In case you haven’t followed, here’s what happened.

The history of the Armenian people has been an ordeal of suffering, tragedy, and genocide. In this millennial series of misfortunes, however, never has the nation invited destruction upon itself.

But today it stands at the brink, with a small group of improperly elected leaders apparently racing toward a forsaking of both identity and interest.