Armenian paper says change “inevitable” in relations with Turkey
Ayots Ashkhar, Yerevan
29 Apr 05
Text of Sarkis Gevorkyan’s report by Armenian newspaper Ayots Ashkhar
on 29 April headlined “The Turkish gambit”
The delicate game of chess that has started between the Turkish and
Armenian leadership is still continuing with both sides exchanging
letters which indicates serious changes that might happen in
Armenian-Turkish relations.
US President George Bush’s message of 24 April and Council of Europe
Secretary General Terry Davis’s statement also proves that. They
proved the predictions about an inevitable change in Turkey’s
political behaviour. Turkey’s externally strange and illogical step
to publish Talat Pasa’s “Black Notebook” should also be seen within
the same context of developments. In fact, this is a demonstration of
“readiness” to discuss history freely and a kind of bait to kick-start
this process at the bilateral level.
The reason is evident: Turkey needs to get rid of the brand of
a country that carried out genocide by shedding crocodile tears
about a common Armenian-Turkish “tragedy” and to create a veneer
of repentance. And this should be done as soon as possible, i.e. by
October 2005 when the European Union and Turkey will start negotiations
where a demand for the recognition of the Armenian genocide will be
put forward.
Turkey wants to act on the basis of the formula “first history, then
policy” because it needs only two things: to avoid being branded
as a country that carried out the genocide and de jure confirm its
control over the territories it occupied in 1921 with the help of
the Lenin-Ataturk deal. It is obvious that at present, Turkey is
ready to make compromises on all the other problems, even on the
Karabakh issue, except for these two. But there is a strong rule
in diplomacy: first take, then give. For this reason, Turkey made
an attack by means of Prime Minister Erdogan’s letter and Armenia,
through President Robert Kocharyan’s reply, adopted the role of a
player who defends himself with the help of a certain counterattack.
Such chess-like moves showed that the Turkish gambit is entering its
critical phase when every step may be fateful for the parties.
How will the events develop? We think that after Kocharyan’s reply, the
Turkish party will make a fuss throughout the world about its readiness
to discuss the “painful pages” of history, but Armenia is trying to
re-direct the pressure that a third party is putting on Turkey, in the
belief that bilateral relations will allegedly improve as a result of
this. This means that the problem of the genocide hinders improvements
in these relations and Armenia has territorial claims to Turkey.
In order to predict Turkey’s next steps, Armenia itself should take
certain progressive steps that would stem from the spirit and contents
of President Kocharyan’s letter to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan. They
may include:
A) An official offer to establish diplomatic relations between the
two countries;
B) An invitation to an Armenian-Turkish business forum in Yerevan;
C) A suggestion that all the disputable problems be put on the agenda
of an Armenian-Turkish high level meeting
D) To raise the problem of Armenia’s blockade more actively and
consistently.
It is obvious that Turkey is in a peculiar situation and launches
attacks by looking at the schedule all the time. Along with defending
itself, Armenia should also use its opportunities for counterattack by
October and try to neutralize Turkey’s attempts at promoting itself as
a constructive party in assessing history by putting forward positive
initiatives directed at improving relations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress