TURKEY TAKES BOLD STEP FOR CHANGE OF STATUS QUO IN CAUCASUS
Today’s Zaman
Sept 2 2009
Turkey
The ongoing status quo in the Caucasus is not advantageous for Armenia,
Azerbaijan or Turkey. Now Turkey, with its leading role based on its
soft power, aims to change this status quo, Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu said on Tuesday.
Davutoglu was speaking in an interview with the NTV news channel after
Armenia and Turkey announced late on Monday that they have agreed
to start internal political consultations on the two protocols —
the "Protocol on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations" and the
"Protocol on the Development of Bilateral Relations" — which have
been initiated in the course of their efforts under Swiss mediation.
"The two protocols provide for a framework for the normalization of
their bilateral relations within a reasonable timeframe. The political
consultations will be completed within six weeks, following which
the two protocols will be signed and submitted to the respective
Parliaments for the ratification on each side. Both sides will make
their best efforts for the timely progression of the ratification
in line with their constitutional and legal procedures," the foreign
ministries of Armenia, Switzerland and Turkey said in a joint statement
which was released simultaneously.
On April 22, Turkey announced that it had reached an agreement with
Armenia on a roadmap for normalizing relations, drawing praise from
the United States and deepening concerns in Azerbaijan. During a
subsequent visit to Baku, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
Turkey would not open its border with Armenia unless Armenia withdraws
its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh, raising doubts over Turkish-Armenian
reconciliation in the foreseeable future.
Armenian leaders also criticized Erdogan for making the normalization
of ties with Armenia conditional on a settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh
and urged him not to interfere in the settlement process. Turkey was
actually one of the first countries to recognize Armenia’s independence
in 1991. The two countries have been holding closed-door talks for
around one-and-a-half years on ways to restore diplomatic relations
and open their mutual border, closed by Turkey in 1993 in protest of
the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territory during a war over
the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The dispute is further complicated by
Armenian claims of genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during
the time of World War I, a charge denied by Turkey.
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan and Turkish President Abdullah Gul
are seen during Gul’s visit to Yerevan last year.
‘Big peace starts with big dreams’ "The fact that peace is delayed
doesn’t remove the indispensability of that peace. All big peace
starts with big dreams. The biggest obstacle in front of them is
prejudice. There is a status quo in the Caucasus at the moment which
is not useful any of the three countries — Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Turkey. Expecting parallel developments in the Armenia-Azerbaijan
dispute is part of our vision," Davutoglu told NTV.
"A partial normalization will not be sustainable. There must be
a comprehensive normalization in the region," the minister said,
urging the international community to display political will for the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
Davutoglu said the upcoming six weeks would be used to explain the
details of the recent development regarding the normalization of
Armenian-Turkish ties to political party leaders, calling it "an
internal consultation process."
The protocol on the establishment of diplomatic relations can only
enter into force after Parliament’s approval, hopefully after the
six weeks of political consultation. Even if Parliament approves
the protocol exactly six weeks later, it will take an additional two
months to enter into force. Ankara regards this period of time as an
opportunity to achieve concrete progress regarding the resolution of
the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
Right after his remarks concerning the internal consultation process,
Davutoglu referred to the Organization for Security and Cooperation’s
(OSCE) Minsk Group, which has been mediating for one-and-a-half decades
to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, and said he expected both
the Minsk Group and the entire international community, including
the European Union, to exert all kinds of efforts to achieve the
resolution of the dispute between Baku and Yerevan.
"Turkey’s move is sending a very strong message to the international
community; it showed great responsibility in trying to resolve the
17-year-old frozen conflict. We want the Caucasus peace to be a
permanent item on agenda of the United Nations," Davutoglu said.
Especially after this point, the international community should do its
part and synchronized efforts should be exerted to resolve disputes
in the South Caucasus, he added.
Diplomatic sources told Today’s Zaman that on Tuesday Davutoglu
initiated a telephone conversation with his French counterpart, Bernard
Kouchner, informing him of the recent developments, while calling for
intensified efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group. France is one of the three
co-chairs of the group along with Russia and the United States. Later
on Tuesday, Davutoglu was expected to call his Russian counterpart,
Sergey Lavrov, as well. He had already held a telephone conversation on
the issue with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday evening.
A common destiny, not a soccer game Prime Minister Erdogan,
meanwhile, also stressed that the protocols which are planned to
be signed with Armenia cannot enter into force without Parliament’s
approval. "This one of the steps we have taken during the process,"
Erdogan told reporters during a meeting with Parliament Speaker Mehmet
Ali Å~^ahin at the latter’s office. "There is a step for starting
internal consultations. It will not be functional as long as it is
not approved by the Parliament," he said.
The boldest step in rapprochement efforts between the two estranged
neighbors was taken when President Abdullah Gul visited Yerevan last
September to watch a World Cup qualifying game at the invitation of
his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarksyan. At the time, Gul invited
Sarksyan to Turkey to watch the return game.
Sarksyan has recently said he will not accept Gul’s invitation to
watch the match scheduled to be played in Bursa in around six weeks
time, on the Oct. 14, unless Turkey takes "real steps" to reopen its
border with Armenia.
When reminded of Sarksyan’s remarks and the coincidence about timing
of the match, Davutoglu firmly denied any connection between the
recent development and Sarksyan’s remarks.
"The recent development has no relation to Sarksyan’s recent
statements. Mr. Gul went to Yerevan for the match without any
preconditions, we expect Mr. Sarksyan to show the same stance regarding
the upcoming match in Bursa," Davutoglu said.
The minister, meanwhile, referred to remarks delivered in May
by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who at the time
suggested that it was now Turkey’s turn to contribute to the ongoing
joint efforts with his country for the normalization of bilateral
relations between the two estranged neighbors when he said, "The ball
is in Turkey’s court now."
"The ball is common, the pitch is common, the region is common and
the destiny is common. What matters is not on which side of the pitch
the ball is, what matters is the ball’s direction," Davutoglu added.
This is Ankara’s will, Davutoglu firmly stated, when reminded
of comments suggesting that Armenia and Turkey moved further in
normalization efforts due to pressure from their common ally the US.
"Please remember how we improved our relations with neighboring
Syria. At the time we didn’t bow to any kind of international pressure
which tried to prevent us from holding talks with Syria. This is
Ankara’s will. Either today or tomorrow, the normalization of ties
with Armenia will happen." In the autumn of 1998, Syria and Turkey
came to the brink of war over the presence of the now-jailed leader
of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, in
Syria. At the time, Turkish troops were marshaled along the border
with Syria, with Ankara demanding that Damascus cease its support
for the PKK and hand over Ocalan.
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Protocols outline mutual recognition of common border, dialogue on
history Two protocols which Ankara and Yerevan announced they will sign
within six weeks under a plan to normalize relations include provisions
to help better explain to the public the course of affairs regarding
the highly sensitive issue, which may be subject to ultra-nationalist
rhetoric. The protocol on the establishment of diplomatic relations
between Armenia and Turkey "confirms the mutual recognition of the
existing border between the two countries as defined by the relevant
treaties of international law."
Over years of non-dialogue, it has been assumed that the Yerevan
administration refused to recognize the Gumru and Kars Agreements that
established the Turkish-Armenian border in 1920 and 1921, respectively.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking in an interview with the
NTV news channel on Tuesday, underlined that the recognition of the
borders was an important element of the recent development.
The second protocol, the protocol on the development of relations
between Armenia and Turkey, says that the two countries have agreed
to "implement a dialogue on the historical dimension with the aim
to restore mutual confidence between the two nations, including an
impartial scientific examination of historical records and archives
to define existing problems and formulate recommendations."
The second protocol says that Armenia and Turkey have agreed on the
establishment of an intergovernmental bilateral commission which
shall form separate sub-commissions for the prompt implementation of
the commitments mentioned in the operational paragraph 2, mentioned
above, in the same protocol. The aforementioned paragraph highlights
"Considering the perspective of developing their bilateral relations,
based on confidence and respect to their mutual interests."
"To prepare the working modalities of the intergovernmental commission
and its sub-commissions, a working group headed by the two ministers of
foreign affairs shall be created two months after the day following
the entry into force of this protocol. Within three months after
the entry into force of this protocol, these modalities shall be
approved at the ministerial level. The intergovernmental commission
shall meet for the first time immediately after the adoption of the
said modalities. The sub-commission shall start their work at the
latest one month thereafter and they shall work continuously until the
completion of their mandates. Where appropriate, international experts
shall take part in the sub-commissions," the second protocol says.