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Resume Of The Week's Events: PACE, Zurich And Erdogan

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  • Resume Of The Week's Events: PACE, Zurich And Erdogan

    RESUME OF THE WEEK'S EVENTS: PACE, ZURICH AND ERDOGAN
    by Karine Ter-Sahakyan

    PanARMENIAN.Net
    02.02.2009 GMT+04:00

    European structures, and not only them, limit themselves to "fatherly
    suggestions" that have long stopped to draw any interest, except for
    the offended opposition of certain countries.

    Past week was rather rich in political events. The world community
    was concentrated on the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly
    of the Council of Europe (PACE) and on the World Economic Forum in
    Davos. As expected, in PACE Armenian Delegation was not deprived of
    the right to vote. Once more the decision proved that certain levers
    of influencing on post-Soviet states are applied in Europe not only
    with reservations, but with caution as well.

    /PanARMENIAN.Net/ In fact, depriving a delegation of voting rights,
    or other Â"lighterÂ" sanctions may simply put these countries on
    a Â"wrongÂ" track. In our opinion, European as well as all the
    international organizations follow exactly this policy and not the
    infamous strategy of double standards. The policy of holding the
    unstable states on a Â"short leashÂ" proved fairly effective not
    solely for Armenia. If the Armenian Delegation were to be deprived of
    voting rights, similar measures had to be applied against Azerbaijan
    and Georgia too, not to mention the mass disorders in Greece late in
    2008 that resulted in the death of a teenager and caused real chaos
    in Athens. However sad it may be, European structures, and not only
    them, limit themselves to Â"fatherly suggestionsÂ" that have long
    stopped to draw any interest, except that of the offended opposition
    in certain countries. The latter, like in Armenia, is guided by one
    single policy - the worse the country feels, the better for us. And
    who said that democracy is the best form of government? According to
    Sir Winston Churchill, "Democracy is the worst form of government,
    but unfortunately, all the others are so much the worse."

    This week also marked the visit of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs on
    the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation, as well as the meetings
    in Zurich between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers
    and Presidents of the two countries. As expected, nothing new was
    achieved - the same tiresome statements on Â"readiness to continue
    talks according to Madrid proposalsÂ", Â"inadmissibility of a military
    solution to the conflictÂ", Â"necessity to engage NKR representatives
    in the regulation processÂ". All these statements sound discordant
    against the background of the anti-Armenian rhetoric by Baku, though
    everybody has already got accustomed to it. In our opinion, real
    burst in the regulation process will occur only when these statements
    are made seriously and sincerely. Let us remember that no conflict
    has ever been settled in the world with purely good intentions and
    "Cast Lead" is a vivid example of it.

    And, surely enough, hit of the week, if we may put it so, was the
    Davos demarche of Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This kind of actions
    can be treated differently, but one thing is certain - leader of the
    country, pretending on the position of the regional power, ought not to
    behave like that. Moreover, Erdogan's move was obviously well-thought
    out and intentional. Most likely, it was a well-calculated act,
    a signal to the Arab-Muslim world: "Look, Turkey is with you." But,
    in fact, Erdogan is trying to increase the influence of his country
    in the region, the shortest way to which is by exerting pressure on
    Israel. The Israeli-Palestine conflict has been going on for dozens
    of years and Turkey had never before criticized Israel so harshly
    as during the operation in Gaza Strip. Erdogan's act can be easily
    interpreted by the state of domestic policy in Turkey, because, to all
    appearances, the struggle between Islamists and Kemalists is coming
    to the peak on the eve of the elections of local administration. It
    is clear that now more than ever the Justice and Development Party of
    Turkey (AKP) needs public support. Otherwise Erdogan may share the fate
    of Adnan Menderes, Prime-Minister of Turkey, executed by Kemalists in
    1961. Turkish Joint Staff has already announced about its readiness
    to preserve strategic relations with Israel, especially in purchasing
    military equipment. It means Turkish servicemen are against the AKP,
    which, by the way, is not a novelty.

    There exists also the Armenian factor in this matter. Only 2
    months is left till April, and there is no guarantee that the
    new US Administration will listen to the Jewish-Turkish lobby that
    successfully torpedoes adoption of the resolution on the recognition
    of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Turkey in 1915-1923. In this
    connection it was truly blasphemous to hear the Turkish Prime-Minister
    addressing the Israeli President with the following words: "When it
    comes to killing, you know well how to do it"...

    In all probability, the demarche story will continue, but the question
    is who Erdogan was on that day - a national hero or an imprudent
    politician. As for the statements of Jewish organizations of the US,
    they were quite predictable: fate of the Jews in Turkey, as well
    as in any other country, against the background of almost total
    anti-Semitism can't but worry the Jewish Diaspora all over the world.

    --Boundary_(ID_52orUZKsuYzeSQhC/71pZA)--
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