ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER POINTS OUT TURKISH DIPLOMACY BLUNDERS

Armenpress

YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS: Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian
argued yesterday that Turkey’s prime minister Erdogan’s meeting with
Armenian president Robert Kocharian would first of all benefit Turkey
itself, as it is turkey that has to prove to the European community
its willingness to start normalization of relations with Yerevan.

During a televised appearance on Armenia’s Public TV Oskanian said a
Kocharian-Erdogan meeting has never been high on Armenia’s foreign
policy agenda. “Over several recent months the Armenian side has
never voiced an intention to have a meeting with Turkey’s leadership,
but I am sure that Robert Kocharian would have responded positively
to an Ankara proposal to organize it, as there is a lot for the two
leaders to discuss,” Oskanian said.

Oskanian said Turkish diplomacy made a rash mistake by declaring
about the possibility of Erdogan-Kocharian meeting in Warsaw counting
that the first move would be made by Kocharian to initiate the
meeting. “Turkish diplomacy’s calculations proved to be wrong that
came as a big surprise, since Turkish diplomats have the reputation
of skilled negotiators,” Oskanian said.

He said the Turkish diplomacy’s blunder has actually reduced to
zero the small progress that had emerged from a recent correspondence
between Erdogan and Kocharian. The second blunder of Turkish diplomacy,
according to Oskanian, was Erdogan’s tough speech at the Council of
Europe summit in Warsaw creating an impression in Europe that there is
no progress at all in Turkish-Armenian relations. “It played against
Turkey which is eager to integrate with European family of nations. The
united Europe has made Turkey’s membership in the EU contingent on
a set of requirements, including also the acknowledgment of Armenian
genocide and lifting its blockade of Armenia,” Oskanian said.