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  • The Turkish Side Has Reached What It Wants

    THE TURKISH SIDE HAS REACHED WHAT IT WANTS

    168 Zham
    April 30 2009
    Armenia

    Armenian Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan briefed the chairmen
    of standing parliamentary commissions and factions on the current
    situation in the negotiations on the normalization of Armenian-Turkish
    relations and the latest developments late on Tuesday [28 April].

    In particular, the 22 April joint statement of the Armenian, Turkish
    and Swiss ministries of foreign affairs was discussed, which mentioned
    a document called "road map". The meeting between Nalbandyan and MPs
    lasted for over two hours and was held behind closed doors. Moreover,
    Nalbandyan had consented to meet MPs and to speak with them "frankly"
    only provided that they keep details of the discussions secret. The
    MPs had given the promise, and they did not disclose any details
    about their conversation with the foreign minister, except from
    assessments. Thus, even after this meeting, the public does not know
    what concrete issues the Armenian authorities are discussing with
    Turkey and with leaders of other states and entities, interested in
    Armenian-Turkish relations. Although the Armenian foreign minister
    promised to speak "frankly", the concrete details of the talks were
    not disclosed to the MPs. For instance, no details were provided on
    what provisions or actions the "road map" contains. Especially a few
    MPs representing the [opposition] Heritage party and the Armenian
    Revolutionary Federation - Dashnaktsutyun were not satisfied with
    Nalbandyan's "frankness". Moreover, both Heritage and Dashnaktsutyun
    continue to disagree with the authorities over the normalization
    of Armenian-Turkish relations. Without disclosing details of the
    meeting and the disagreements, representatives of these two parties
    commented on over what issues they disagree with the authorities -
    with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this case.

    "Our and the government's assessments regarding this process continues
    to be different. We do not see the project as trustworthy, but our
    authorities do. The authorities provide explanations to the conduct of
    the Turkish side which are different from what we have. The authorities
    see one motive behind the conduct of the Turkish side, and we see a
    different one. And these impact very seriously the further process,"
    Heritage MP Stepan Safaryan said.

    Anyway, the MP believes that such type of discussions is more
    useful than mutual accusations voiced in the media. The Heritage
    representative believes it is also correct to organize such discussions
    with various layers of the population in order to understand their
    attitude towards the process. "Because it is impossible to understand
    contemporary Turkey, Azerbaijan and their intentions from just one
    window. Therefore, the likelihood of being mistaken is rather big,"
    the MP said.

    Nalbandyan's explanations did not satisfy Dashnaktsutyun either. The
    latter went into opposition three days ago. Representatives of this
    faction stress that they got convinced after the meeting that their
    assessments are correct and that Dashnaktsutyun's being in opposition
    is a matured necessity for Armenia at present. Dashnaktsutyun was more
    angry at the tripartite statement, made public on 23 April. Although
    Dashnaktsutyun does not see anti-Armenian approaches in the content
    of the talks, it has different approaches anyway.

    "The strategic, key issues are different, and the threats, which we
    see, are very tangible for us. I understood from the explanations that
    the word should be not that much about a 'road map' but rather about
    a memorandum of intentions. But the major issue for us was that why
    that day [the eve of 24 April - the day of commemoration of killings
    of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1918] was selected for making
    the statement, why it happened in this context, when the Turkish side
    made statements not favourable for us. In general, was this statement
    necessary or not?" [Dashnaktsutyun MP] Armen Rustamyan said.

    Last week Turkish newspaper Sabah reported that the "road map"
    consists of five provisions - recognition of the [1921] Kars Treaty
    [that sets the current borders between Turkey and South Caucasus
    states] by Armenia, opening of the [Armenian-Turkish] border and
    diplomatic representations, setting up a commission of historians
    [to study the 1918 killings] and ratification of the "road map" in
    Turkish parliament. Stepan Safaryan has noticed resemblance between
    the content of this report of the Turkish newspaper and the statement
    of the International Crisis Group [ICG] issued two weeks ago. "These
    are two edited versions of proposals of the same crisis group. It
    is definite that the content of Sabah's and the ICG's provisions is
    identical. I know that the ICG is not making its own proposals but
    introduces to the societies what is on the negotiating table, and
    I am not going to change my mind. I believe that Sabah's report is
    quite close to reality. I am saying this based on information from
    many other sources," the MP said.

    Both MPs [Safaryan and Rustamyan] believe that the gravity force
    in Armenian-Turkish relations and the process of establishment of
    relations is so far on Turkey's side. "I strongly believe that the
    statement could be used much more in Turkey's interests and not in
    other interests," Rustamyan said. "The Turkish side has achieved what
    it wanted - neutralizing the Armenian issue in the US policy. The
    defeat in football by a score of two-nil in September [2008, when
    Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Armenia to watch football game
    between the Armenian and Turkish national teams, at the invitation
    of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan] was followed by Armenia's
    diplomatic defeat by a score of three-nil. We want the authorities to
    understand the importance of the current moment, their responsibility
    and obligation to inform their own society about these processes and
    not make especially optimistic statements," Safaryan said.
    From: Baghdasarian
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