TURKISH BUSINESSMAN DENIES AZERI EFFORTS TO HINGE OPEN BORDER ON KARABAGH CONFLICT
ArmenPress
Feb 14 2005
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS: Kaan Soyak, the Turkish cochairman
of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Commission (TABDC) told
a press conference in Yerevan today that the trade between the two
nations last year amounted to $120 million. Soyak said he has come to
Armenia to look together with Eurasia Foundation into prospects for
developing ties Armenia after Turkey opens its closed border. Soyak
argued that open borders may triple the current trade volume.
Soyak said he has been working to prove that open borders would
benefit both Turkey and Armenia and even invited officials of the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation/Dashnaktsutyun to Turkey to start
dialogue on urgent issues. The Dashnaktsutyun party is against the
open border saying that Turkey must first acknowledge the killing of
around 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman empire. “Dashnaktsutyun
is a serious party with wide experience and I am ready to exert every
effort to have this dialogue happen,” he told reporters.
Soyak also spoke about the most sensitive issue in Turkish-Armenian
relations, the 1915 genocide, saying it has become a topic of debates
in Turkey just a couple of years ago. “Our organization is doing
what it can so that more broader segments of Turks get involved
in discussions on this problem and to learn the historical truth,”
he said. Incidentally, Soyak used the word “genocide” when talking
about the events of 1915.
Soyak said the TABDC works also for establishment of cultural and
business contacts and is organizing trips of Turkish Armenians
to Yerevan and vice versa. He added that TABDC is criticized in
Azerbaijan and Turkey. “Azerbaijan is campaigning aggressively in
Turkey to link the opening of the border with the resolution of the
Nagorno Karabagh conflict. We are against it and we believe that
borders must be open irrespective of whether the conflict is solved
or not yet,” he said, adding that in today’s world there is no gain
in keeping a couple of borders closed as countries will always find a
way to survive.” I believe we need to have a constructive approach,
to open the borders and solve the problems with a vision enabling
us to carry the conflicts to international platforms and solve the
problems with an active diplomacy, and to work towards it together.”
TABDC, established in 1997 is the only Turkish-Armenian joint
organization, a well-known businessman Arsen Ghazarian is the
co-chairman of the Armenian side.