Armenia Needs Open Border with Nakhijevan, Not Turkey
Naira Hayrumyan, Political Commentator
Comments – Saturday, 05 July 2014, 13:23
The Turkish Taraf reported that the Turkish prime minister running for
president has ordered to open the Armenian-Turkish border in
September. Later, the information was refuted. It is not known yet
what this trick was meant for.
Earlier in spring Erdogan was rumored to open the border as part of
his electoral campaign. Turkish analysts said the Armenian issue is a
bone stuck in Erdogan’s throat, and he knows that sooner or later he
will have to resolve this issue, especially ahead of the 100th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. However, he must do it in a way
to get the utmost of it in terms of political dividends.
Turkish presidential elections will be held in August. Erdogan is
“threatened” by establishment of a Sunni Caliphate and Kurdistan at
the Turkish borders. These two formations may extend into the Turkish
territory. Erdogan is currently trying to do everything to preserve
Turkey’s ethnic identity because Turkey’s fragmentation will indicate
the end of his career.
But it will not be so easy to do. If the borders in the Near East are
revised, the Treaty of Lausanne which had replaced the Treaty of
Sevres will end. Although there is an opinion that an experiment is
performed in the Near East which consists in creating supranational
formations which have no state borders. If Kurdish autonomies are
created in Syria, Iraq and Turkey, they may afterwards unite in a
confederation, without demarcation of borders.
One way or another, Erdogan will become the president of a state with
borders disputed from every side. Armenia which did not get anything
from the division of the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Lausanne has
the strongest rights. Erdogan will try to prevent claims from Armenia,
or more exactly, the Armenian Diaspora.
What will Turkey’s “favor” bring to Armenia? It is no good because
there everything will be controlled by the Russian-Turkish alliance,
and it may be blocked any time. Moscow is patiently waiting for the
opening of the border. The head of Russian Railways Yakunin visiting
Armenia announced that Kars-Gyumri railway is ready for operation.
Now Yerevan should focus on routes via Iran and Nakhijevan rather than
the Turkish border. If the Turkish border is opened, it will
facilitate “closure” of Armenia. Nakhijevan National Political
Initiative has released a research on the existing situation in
Nakhijevan where Iran’s influence is strengthening while the link with
“mainland” Azerbaijan is almost intangible. Notably, escalation on the
Armenian-Azerbaijani border followed a proposal by Iranian officials
to set up a free trade zone in Nakhijevan. The proposal did not come
to the liking of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia which will thus lose
their monopoly of regional routes. In this situation, Armenia should
reject opening of the Turkish border because it will not bring us
anything.
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