YEREVAN AFTER GUL: HALF WAY THERE: OPEN BORDERS WITH ARMENIA BY 14 OCTOBER
Radikal
Sept 8 2008
Turkey
He began by saying, "Yesterday was a very important and historic day
for us." At some point in his speech he said: "Half the journey is
taking the first step. The presidents have come half way. Having
reached the half-way point they instructed their ministers to
accomplish the rest of the journey."
Armenian’s Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbantyan invited us to lunch. In
the Foreign Ministry, one of the splendid buildings surrounding
Republic Square in Yerevan, we sat in his office and talked about
Abdullah Gul’s "historic visit" and we lunched together. Sitting
at the table and translating for us was Arsen Avakyan, who had
translated for Gul and Sarkisyan during their meeting. By us I mean
myself, Hasan Cemal, Ali Bayramoglu and Mustafa Karaalioglu. Also at
this desk-cum-dining-table sat Ministry Spokesman Tigran Balayan
and Armenia’s representative for the KEIB [Black Sea Economic
Cooperation Union] in Istanbul. In order to emphasize just how
seriously Turkish-Armenian relations were normalizing Nalbantyan
said time and time again that both presidents had "the will" to do
this and that this "will" would with Foreign Minister Ali Babacan’s
resolve speed itself along. Another two stopping points on this "road"
are "the establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkey and
Armenia" and "the opening of borders." Neither of these points can
exist without the other.
We witnessed just how seriously this business was being treated. After
our soccer team beat the Armenian team 2-0 we went up to the highest
part of the spectators’ box. We joined a small party held in the
back in honour of Abdullah Gul and the Turkish delegation. Suddenly
before us appeared Armenia’s President Serj Sarkisyan and our President
Abdullah Gul. Abdullah Gul introduced each one of us in turn. Sarksiyan
launched into the subject right away. The final score was not
important for him. The event was a means of "rapprochement." His
mood was one of a relived childhood. He said he would be coming to
Turkey on 14 October, not neglecting to add laughingly, "But not for a
grudge match." Nalbantyan told us at yesterday’s lunch that the visit
would be on the date on which another Turkish-Armenian soccer match
would be played, and would be just as "historic." Both countries’
foreign ministers have immediately started work on what needs to
be done between "Historic Saturday" in Yerevan and 14 October in
order to "complete the other half of the journey." After the party
Gul and Sarkisyan left the Hrazdan stadium for Gul’s trip back to
Turkey. Sarkisyan’s senior adviser, who was at these high level talks,
was left to take us back to our hotel. He gave us a lift in his car. On
the way he said that "both presidents had agreed to the principles
and that both ministers would begin working to bring those principles
to life and to provide logistics." We arrived at the hotel and set up
"our HQ" in the cafe in front. We chatted about the historic day and
the soccer match. At 0215 [local] Ali Babacan and his entourage left
the Foreign Ministry building directly opposite us. Nalbantyan told
us yesterday what happened that evening after the match: "After the
match Babacan and I spoke for two-and-a-half hours. We are going to
meet up again in New York in two weeks’ time. After that there will
be no more pauses. To date there have been too many halts and at each
one we have waited a long time. That is not going to be the case from
now on. In the days ahead we are going to talk about concrete stuff
now. Armenia has the intention and the desire for this. We saw that
same intention on the part of Turkey. There are no countries in the
world that have closed borders while having diplomatic relations." You
can find in Nalbantyan’s words an indicator of the rapprochement
created between Turkey and Armenia. We also spoke about the Turkish
initiative: Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform. Armenia
accepts this 100 per cent and considers it important. Although nobody
wants to make any promises or take responsibility it would not come as
a surprise, looking at the mood in Yerevan, to hear that diplomatic
relations between Turkey and Armenia have been resumed and that the
borders have been opened before 14 October. However, in the spirit of
"once bitten twice shy" we still have reservations: we shall believe
it when we see it.
Having arrived in Yerevan before Abdullah Gul and stayed after he
returned we were in a position to measure the outcome of this "soccer
diplomacy" and the climate both before and after this "historic"
visit. We can say that the silent protests along Gul’s trip from
the airport to the city, the Dashnak placards that were opened and
immediately closed again during the soccer match plus the whistles that
were heard when our national anthem was played are too insignificant
to overshadow the "spring climate" that has been created between
Turkey and Armenia as fall sets in. One Dashnak official wanting to
stress that they were not opposed to Abdullah Gul’s visit said not to
take the protests too seriously adding in a semi-jokingly fashion,
"Had we not done that much we may just as well have dissolved our
Dashnak Party." Like I said before, this "first" visit by Abdullah
Gul needs to create concrete results that really can be considered
"historic." This means establishing diplomatic relations between
Turkey and Armenia and opening the borders. Edvard Nalbantyan told
us yesterday, "We are half way there." The rest of the journey has
already begun as of yesterday and in a mood of optimism.