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ANALYST SAYS GENOCIDE RESOLUTION WON'T AFFECT U.S.-TURKEY RELATIONS
By Anna Saghabalian
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Aug 14 2007
An American-Armenian analyst believes U.S.-Turkey relations will not
suffer from the possible adoption of the genocide resolution in the
U.S. Congress as he describes these relations as "already bad".
Richard Giragosian, in particular, mentions the clash of U.S. and
Turkish interests in Iraq where the most reliable U.S. ally, the Kurds,
are known to be a threat to Turkey. In this sense, according to him,
genocide recognition is not seen as a focal issue in the relations
between the two states.
"The U.S. military perception of Turkey today is that Turkey is more
of a problem than part of the solution," Giragosian said in Yerevan
on Tuesday, analyzing the consequences of the possible recognition
of the Armenian genocide by the United States on the Armenian-Turkish
relations and U.S. foreign policies.
At the same time, Giragosian considers that Turkey's EU membership
meets Armenia's interests, as "the closer Turkey is to European
standards, the safer and more predictable it becomes for Armenia."
"If Europe rejects Turkey, it will shift away from looking west to
the European Union and will return to the Pan-Turkic eastern vision,"
Giragosian says. "The other important thing is that Turkey within
the European Union brings the EU borders to Armenia."
In terms of regional developments Giragosian is worried about
Armenia's isolation, while its neighbor Azerbaijan is developing closer
relations with Central Asia and Georgia is moving closer to the West,
the U.S. and NATO.
According to Giragosian, it is Russia and the United States rather
than Turkey that are Azerbaijan's closest military partners today.
Under the circumstances, Giragosian is as much worried about possible
"Russian betrayal".
The analyst says the opening of the border with Turkey and the end
of the blockade will have positive economic effects of competition
for Armenia. But adds: "It threatens many powerful people in Armenia,
those who control the monopolies on different commodities."
By Anna Saghabalian
Radio Liberty, Czech Republic
Aug 14 2007
An American-Armenian analyst believes U.S.-Turkey relations will not
suffer from the possible adoption of the genocide resolution in the
U.S. Congress as he describes these relations as "already bad".
Richard Giragosian, in particular, mentions the clash of U.S. and
Turkish interests in Iraq where the most reliable U.S. ally, the Kurds,
are known to be a threat to Turkey. In this sense, according to him,
genocide recognition is not seen as a focal issue in the relations
between the two states.
"The U.S. military perception of Turkey today is that Turkey is more
of a problem than part of the solution," Giragosian said in Yerevan
on Tuesday, analyzing the consequences of the possible recognition
of the Armenian genocide by the United States on the Armenian-Turkish
relations and U.S. foreign policies.
At the same time, Giragosian considers that Turkey's EU membership
meets Armenia's interests, as "the closer Turkey is to European
standards, the safer and more predictable it becomes for Armenia."
"If Europe rejects Turkey, it will shift away from looking west to
the European Union and will return to the Pan-Turkic eastern vision,"
Giragosian says. "The other important thing is that Turkey within
the European Union brings the EU borders to Armenia."
In terms of regional developments Giragosian is worried about
Armenia's isolation, while its neighbor Azerbaijan is developing closer
relations with Central Asia and Georgia is moving closer to the West,
the U.S. and NATO.
According to Giragosian, it is Russia and the United States rather
than Turkey that are Azerbaijan's closest military partners today.
Under the circumstances, Giragosian is as much worried about possible
"Russian betrayal".
The analyst says the opening of the border with Turkey and the end
of the blockade will have positive economic effects of competition
for Armenia. But adds: "It threatens many powerful people in Armenia,
those who control the monopolies on different commodities."