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Turkish FM: Turkey, Armenia Still Have Far To Go

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  • Turkish FM: Turkey, Armenia Still Have Far To Go

    TURKISH FM: TURKEY, ARMENIA STILL HAVE FAR TO GO
    By Suzan Fraser

    AP
    01 Sept 09

    ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkey and Armenia are at the beginning of a "long
    process" toward normalizing relations, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet
    Davutoglu said Tuesday, suggesting the issue surrounding the massacres
    of Armenians 90 years ago remains tricky.

    Armenia and Turkey, bitter foes for a century, took a major step toward
    reconciliation late Tuesday, announcing they were launching final
    talks aimed at establishing diplomatic ties. The Swiss-mediated talks
    were expected to last six weeks, the sides said in a joint statement.

    Turkey is under intense pressure from its ally the United States,
    and the European Union, which it hopes to join, to improve ties
    with Armenia.

    President Barack Obama, visiting Turkey in April, called on his hosts
    to come to terms with the past, resolve its dispute with Armenia and
    reopen the border.

    The move comes weeks before Turkey and Armenia's soccer teams are to
    meet in a World Cup qualifier. Turkey's president attended the first
    game in Yerevan in April, but Armenia's President Serge Sarkisian
    said he would not travel to the Oct. 14 match in Turkey until progress
    was made on reopening the border.

    "It would be an embarrassment if the Armenian president does not come,"
    said Bulent Aliriza, of the Washington-based Center for Strategic
    and International Studies. "With this process they are able to find
    a way for him to attend."

    The protocols to be signed by the two countries say Turkey and Armenia
    agree to open the border within two months after they formally come
    into force.

    One of the biggest disputes is over the World War I-era massacre of
    up to 1.5 million Armenians in the last days of the Ottoman Empire,
    which many historians regard as the first genocide of the 20th
    century. Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, contending
    the toll is inflated and those killed were victims of civil war.

    In a minor victory for Turkey, the protocols say the countries will
    agree to "implement dialogue on the historical dimension with the aim
    to restore mutual confidence." Turkey has pressed for an independent
    committee of historians to determine whether the deaths were genocide.

    The two countries will engage in an "impartial scientific examination
    of historical records and archives," according to the documents.

    "It is a long process," Davutoglu said told Turkey's NTV television on
    a visit to northern Cyprus. "But every long process has a beginning."

    Foreign Policy analyst Semih Idiz said the committee allows the two
    side to improve ties without being stymied by the genocide issue.

    "The sides are not changing their stance on the genocide issue -- they
    are isolating the issue so that they may proceed with establishing
    ties without letting it interfere in the process," Idiz said.

    =0 AThe parliaments of both countries must ratify a deal on diplomatic
    normalization. In Turkey, suspicion about Armenian intentions runs
    particularly high.

    Turkey's prime minister has also linked normalization to resolution
    of the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azeri region occupied by
    Armenian troops.

    Turks have close cultural and linguistic relations with Azerbaijan,
    which is pressing Turkey for help in recovering its land.

    Azerbaijan on Tuesday made clear it opposed the opening of the border
    through a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.

    "The position of our country is based on announcements of Turkish
    leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan," who "said on May 14 that the border
    will open only after the complete liberation of occupied Azerbaijani
    territories," Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov
    told The Associated Press.

    "The Turkish premier announced that Ankara will not back down from
    this position by a single step and will not make any moves in that
    direction without the approval of Azerbaijan," he said.

    Turkey's two main opposition parties blasted the agreement.

    "They are making unilateral concessions," said Onur Oymen, deputy
    head of the main opposition Republican People's Party. "That border
    was to be opened on condition that (Armenia) withdraw from Azeri
    territories. There is no sign of that. This is shameful!" he said.

    "This allows Turkey to lay the red carpet so that the president of
    Azerbaijan, who swears at=2 0Turkey at every occasion, can watch a
    soccer game," said a nationalist party official, Deniz Bolukbasi.

    Davutoglu said Turkey would safeguard Azerbaijan's interests throughout
    the reconciliation process.

    "If all parties show goodwill the Nagorno-Karabakh issue can be
    resolved. We believe this can be achieved," he said, pointing at
    recent progress in talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan mediated by
    the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

    Both the United States and the EU welcomed the thaw in relations.

    Davutoglu said the rapprochement with Yerevan is part of Turkey's
    wider policy of "zero problems" with neighbors. Turkey has gradually
    improved ties with longtime foes and neighbors including Greece,
    Syria and Bulgaria.

    Turkey is seeking to enhance its image as a regional statesman and
    an ally of world powers in a strategic and often unstable region.

    It is also trying to resolve a long-running feud with its Kurdish
    minority -- an issue vital to Turkish efforts to earn membership in
    the European Union.

    Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia's
    independence in 1991, but the two countries never established
    diplomatic relations and their joint border has been closed since 1993.

    Associated Press writers Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, Aida
    Sultanova in Baku, Azerbaijan and Josef Federman in Jerusalem
    contributed to this report.
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