AZG Armenian Daily #190, 06/10/2006

Turkey

‘ISSUE OF NAGORNO KARABAKH IS NO PRECONDITION FOR IMPROVEMENT
OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH RELATIONS. ANKARA TRIES TO FIND TERMS OF
RECONCILIATION WITH ARMENIA’

On October 2, when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan was
to meet with US President George Bush, "Vatan" newspaper wrote
that they will also touch upon the readiness of Ankara to improve
the relations with Armenia during the meeting, as well. Recently,
"CNN-Turk" touched upon this topic in the article by Barchen Yinanch.

According to the author, the capital of Austria plays quite
an important role for Turkey from the viewpoint of the fatal
negotiations. He stated that, having no open diplomatic relations,
Armenia and Turkey hold secret meetings in Vienna. He also touched
upon "the progressive step of historical importance taken by Turkey
in September."

"Till now, turkey would reject that precondition put forward for
improvement of relations with Armenia, at the same time Turkey demanded
progressive developments in the Nagorno Karabakh settlement process
from Armenia," Yinanch wrote. Having suggested to shape a joint
commission for studying the claims of Armenia about the Armenian
genocide, Ankara has given consent for handing the discussion go the
bilateral relations to the commission to be shaped against the mutual
suggestion of Yerevan," he wrote.

The author of the article wrote that this approach in the issue of
Nagorno Karabakh is a kind of a demarche and that is conditioned by
the achievement of the Armenians in the issue of the international
recognition of the Armenian genocide. Ankara is deeply concerned
about the probability that these achievements may greatly increase by
2015. Some experts state that the progressive step taken by Ankara will
be accepted as a readiness to make a concession, that will encourage
the Armenians and hinder the further process of reconciliation.

Besides, Yinanch added that after the beginning of the process of
the international recognition of the Armenian genocide, Turkey’s
policy to Armenia faces serious obstacles. Thus, in order to stop
the process, Ankara had to find terms for reconciliation with
Yerevan. Ankara has already informed Yerevan about its readiness to
accept Armenia’s suggestion to "shape a commission for studying the
bilateral relations."

By Hakob Chakrian