TURKISH-ARMENIAN RELATIONS HAVE NO FUTURE
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Dec 13 2013
13 December 2013, 16:54 (GMT+04:00)
By Rufiz Hafizoglu, Trend Arabic News service head
Participation of the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in the
Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Black Sea
Economic Cooperation was met ambiguously both in Turkey and in Armenia.
Undoubtedly there are many people in Ankara who took this visit
as a major turning point in Turkish-Armenian relations. At least,
because Davutoglu, the founder of the “zero problems with neighbors”
idea in Turkey’s foreign policy, has more political clout, in contrast
to former FM Ali Babacan, who at one time also made a visit to Yerevan.
Although the policy of “zero problems” is effective in relation to
certain states, Yerevan still does not want to take advantage of it.
With full confidence we can say that, despite Armenia’s ambitions
with regard to Turkey, Yerevan each time pushes away the hand of
friendship extended by Ankara. At the same time Turkish officials
are well aware that there will be no sufficient progress in the
development of relations with Yerevan.
In his first statement after returning from Yerevan, Turkish FM noted
the impossibility of solving the problems between the two countries
in the near future.
As for the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, one of the
biggest obstacles to this is Armenia’s claims to Turkey in connection
with the false “genocide” and territorial claims against its neighbors.
Turkish officials have repeatedly expressed readiness to collaborate
with Armenia and other states of the commission on investigation of
the events of 1915. Armenia’s silence about this proposal gives grounds
to assert that the “genocide” allegedly committed in 1915 against the
Armenians in Turkey, is fiction. Armenia would have accepted Turkey’s
proposal if the genocide had taken place.
Another issue is the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia. One
of the recent statements of the Turkish FM notes that Ankara will not
compromise in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the normalization
of relations between Armenia and Turkey depends on peace in the
South Caucasus.
Davutoglu especially stressed in his statement that even if Turkey
and Armenia do restore normal diplomatic relations, without peace in
the South Caucasus this relationship can be broken at any time.
If we look at the history of relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey,
we can say with full confidence that Ankara will never make concessions
in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, regardless of which political force is
in power in Turkey. Given this, relations between Ankara and Yerevan
have no future.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Disclaimer: This article was contributed and translated into English by Emil Lazarian. While we strive for quality, the views and accuracy of the content remain the responsibility of the contributor. Please verify all facts independently before reposting or citing.
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