Turkey’s accession to EU to insure Armenia against war with Azerbaijan – paper

Aykakan Zhamanak, Yerevan
28 Oct 04

Text of unattributed report by Armenian newspaper Aykakan Zhamanak
on 28 October headlined “We are a nation that ‘keeps traditions'”

The prospect of Turkey joining the European Union has caused a vague
rumpus in Armenia, and in fact, at the state level our country is
against Turkey’s joining the EU.

An analysis of Armenia’s position unequivocally shows that our country
is against Turkey’s joining the EU stemming not from future reasons but
from those of the past. This approach is vulnerable because in fact
it is taken at the traditional Armenian reflex level: Turkey means
the enemy. But a sober analysis stemming from the state interests of
Armenia should tell our political forces that Turkey’s joining the
EU meets the interests of Armenia. In this case Armenia will find
itself among the countries that border the EU, which will make the
prospect of our country joining the EU more realistic.

But the problem has another more important aspect. If we stem from
the point of view that Turkey is our enemy and a potential threat to
Armenia, in this case we should be more interested in this country’s
joining the EU, because if we assess Turkey’s current possible
aggression against Armenia as 10, Turkey’s possible aggression will
not be more than one after it becomes a European Union member even
given the most pessimistic predictions.

If today there is little opportunity for the war against Azerbaijan
to resume, Armenia should be interested in beginning talks
with Turkey regarding its European Union membership as soon as
possible. Because if we assess Turkey’s current possible mediation
in an Armenian-Azerbaijani war as 10, it cannot be more than 0.01 for
Turkey which is in talks on joining the EU. Negotiations with Turkey
regarding its EU membership could be that guarantee which will insure
us against restarting war with Azerbaijan.