RICHARD GIRAGOSIAN: “THE MISTAKES TURKEY MADE DURING THE “FOOTBALL DIPLOMACY” STRENGTHENED ARMENIA’S POSITION”
ARMENPRESS
June 14, 2011
YEREVAN
Turkey now emphasizes the resumption of the process of establishing
relations with Armenia: the fact that during the pre-election campaign
no any political force touched upon Armenia, as well as the Nagorno
Karabakh issue, proves this, according to Richard Giragosian, analyst,
director of Regional Studies Center.
Richard Giragosian said today at a news conference that both the
ruling the Justice and Development Party and other main political
parties refused to touch Armenia during the campaign not to enter
into a conflict with the public opinion.
“It is evident that the Turkish society has an approach other than that
of the Armenian society. People in Turkey understand the signing of
the protocols and the steps following discredited Turkey’s foreign
policy completely. Common Turks perceive Armenia as an enemy,
and official Turkey’s approach was the strategy of negotiating
with preconditions, which was unacceptable both for Armenia and
the international community,” the analyst said. He added that now
the deepening of the influence in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan is among
Turkey’s foreign policy priorities.