TURKEY CAN NOW SAY IT’S ARMENIA’S TURN TO MAKE THE NEXT MOVE: ANALYST
ArmeniaDiaspora.com
Sept 26 2011
Epress.am — What’s interesting in recent political developments is
that the Republic of Turkey has now resubmitted the Armenian-Turkish
Protocols to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, said Regional
Studies Center (RSC) NGO Director Richard Giragosian in an interview
with Epress.am today.
“After the election in June, the Protocols were removed from the
agenda of the new parliament with many other bills. That was normal;
it was general procedure in every parliament. When there’s an election
for a new parliament, much of the outstanding legislation that wasn’t
voted on has to be removed and then resubmitted,” he said.
But what’s interesting, the political analyst continued, is that
Turkey chose now to resubmit the Protocols.
“In my opinion, it’s a sign of two things: One, that diplomatically,
Turkey is beginning to return to the opening [i.e. reviving relations]
with Armenia, especially after this week’s diplomacy in the United
Nations.
“The second reason is more negative: it’s another way to test Armenia.
In other words, now Turkey will say to the Americans and the
Europeans… it’s not up to us, we submitted the Protocols, the next
move is back to Armenia.”
In Giragosian’s opinion, the real test now is if and how Armenia
reacts now to Turkey’s move.
To the Epress.am reporter’s comment “So now the ball is in our court,”
Giragosian replied:
“Not really. In other words, Turkey is saying that – that’s their
excuse and their trick. Everyone is waiting for Turkey to make the
next move – to open the borders, establish diplomatic relations,
But this is a convenient way for Turkey to shift the blame and
expectations back on Armenia. It will only work if Armenia doesn’t
respond effectively. It’s also a reaction to [Armenian] President
[Serzh] Sargsyan’s speech in the United Nations. So we will see these
two things: another test of Armenian foreign policy and diplomacy, but
also a sign for Turkey that it may signal a return to [the] Armenian
issue. Mainly because of the Kurdish initiative, and because Libya,
Syria are much bigger problems.”
Epress.am then asked the analyst for his opinion on how the Armenian
government will respond.
“Well, as I’ve said before, it’s the worst time in Armenian history to
have the worst foreign minister. I’m not confident that the [Armenian]
foreign ministry will respond effectively. It’s up to the Armenian
president in order to answer this challenge from Turkey, and we
haven’t seen anything yet,” Giragosian concluded.
From: Baghdasarian