WILL THE PRESIDENT OF TURKEY COME TO YEREVAN?
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.06.2008 GMT+04:00
Turkey has indeed become the hostage of Baku, as well as its interests,
its energy supplies and nobody knows how long it will still last.
The announcement that the President of Armenia Serge Sargsyan made in
Moscow, may change the situation in the region. The matter concerns
the possible normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations, which
is necessary to the USA, EU and Turkey itself. This may be the very
decisive point in the negotiations with the EU. For the USA the safety
of the pipelines is also very important, since Azerbaijan and Turkey
are not able to do that.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ During the meeting with the Armenian community
in Russia Serge Sargsyan announced that Armenia keeps up to one
clear point of view in the issue of establishing relations with
Turkey: in the 21st century two neighboring countries may not be
separated by closed borders. According to the President of Armenia,
the Turkish party suggests creating a commission, which shall study
the historical facts. "We are not against such a commission, but
only when the borders between two countries are open. Otherwise,
it may become a good way of abusing and prolonging the issue for
long years," he mentioned. "In the near future I intend to take new
measures in my course of establishing relations between Armenia and
Turkey. Most probably I will invite the President of Turkey Abdullah
Gul to Yerevan to watch the football match between our countries
together," announced Serge Sargsyan. It is worth reminding that the
President of Turkey was among the first ones who congratulated Serge
Sargsyan with his appointment on the post of the President of Armenia.
However, it is still too early to speak about any approximate date
of opening the Armenian-Turkish borders. But the fact that the
President of Armenia is open to the dialogue is already good. In
fact, the recommendation of the US State Department may be realized
in the beginning of the dialogue. But as the Armenian party has
always said – there must be no preconditions. The Turkish party has
many of these preconditions: the recognition of the Moscow Treaty
of 1921, the Karabakh Conflict and the Armenian Genocide in the
Ottoman Empire. As it is known to everyone, the Armenian party has no
preconditions. Naturally, Armenia will continue being the guarantor
of the safety of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and will achieve
the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Turkey must
understand that it is easier to recognize the Genocide than spend
millions and blackmail the entire world. And in this issue Ankara is
standing on the way of Azerbaijan. One may still understand Baku:
in the absence of real allies in the issue of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict resolution, she counts on Turkey, as a country which is
more or less closer with her views. And as it has already been said
more than once, Turkey has indeed become the hostage of Baku, as
well as its interests, its energy supplies and nobody knows how long
it will still last, but it is rather interesting what Azerbaijan’s
reaction will be if Abdullah Gul really comes to Yerevan. If the
President of Turkey really wants normalization of the relations and
gives a positive answer to Sarsyan’s invitation, this will be a great
break. On the other hand, this kind of invitations are usually given
only when there is a preliminary agreement at least on the level of
the Foreign Ministries of both countries and necessarily through the
mediation of a third party, which in this case is the USA. Russia does
not participate in this dialogue, because she does not control the
situation and as it seems does not want the opening of the borders,
having all the reasonable fears that this will drive Armenia apart
from Russia and the Russian influence.
As for the recognition of the Armenian-Turkish, and also earlier the
Soviet-Turkish borders, here things are a bit more complicated. On
May 30, 1953 the government of the USSR made an official announcement
about the absence of territorial claims towards Turkey, having the
Kars region, Erzurum and Surmalin district on mind. The USSR broke
down and now the independent Armenia is not the assignee of the
Arm.SSR, but of the First Republic of Armenia and consequently, has
no responsibilities towards the treaties and agreements of the USSR.
During the hearings in the US Congress Assistant Secretary, Bureau of
European and Eurasian Daniel Fried announced, "The USA thinks that
a part of the problem solution is opening of the Armenian-Turkish
borders. The existing status-quo is no good for either of the
countries. The USA assists the dialogue and the cooperation between
the Armenian and the Turkish people through conferences, meetings and
program exchange. Establishment of the relations between Armenia and
Turkey is a very sensitive issue. Turkey must put up with the black
pages of her history; mass killings and deportations of the Armenian
people in the Ottoman Empire. This is not easy, like it was not easy
for the USA when she took her time to recognize the black pages of
her history. In her turn Armenia must be ready for the recognition of
the borders and not to come up with territorial claims towards Turkey
and must suggest constructive approach to the efforts of Turkey,"
said Fried. The interesting thing in this announcement is that Fried
did not mention anything at all about Turkey’s possible participation
in the regulations of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
According to the US Charge d´Affaires to Armenia Joseph Pennington,
after the presidential elections in Armenia some icebreaking has been
noticed between the countries and this may become a very good start
for both parties to find a way for compromise. "For reaching certain
progress in the two-sided relations the official Yerevan and Ankara
must cooperate, and the USA will only assist the establishment of
the relations," emphasized Joseph Pennington.
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