TURKISH MILITARY SEEKS ARMENIA DETENTE

Armenpress
Feb 13 2007

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 13, ARMENPRESS: The assassination of a prominent
Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, on 19 January 2007 in
Istanbul renewed attention on Turkey’s troubled relations with its
small neighbor, Armenia, according to an article in Jane’s Information
Group’s magazine.

It says the record of Turkish-Armenian relations has been blighted
by both Ankara’s refusal to extend normal diplomatic relations to
Yerevan and a trade embargo and transport blockade, imposed on Armenia
in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The article says a group of Western-trained young officers brought into
senior posts within the Turkish military’s General Staff authored a
preliminary, semi-official internal study in late 2006 that presented
several new strategic initiatives, including a reconsideration of
Turkey’s long-standing hesitance toward addressing the stalemate
with Armenia.

Such recognition has to date been limited to a rather narrow circle
of Turkish elite, defined by a generally progressive, pro-Western
orientation. In the wake of Dink’s murder, however, there has been
a surprising public outpouring of sympathy for Armenians that has,
at least temporarily, bridged the historic enmity between the two
neighbors. This has also triggered a political shift, with public
opinion presently driving and defending a reassessment of Turkey’s
policies regarding Armenia.

For the Turkish government, the Armenian issue offers a new sense of
political advantage, whereby any improvement in its relations with
Armenia can offer a welcome respite to the recent round of vocal
European opposition to Turkish EU membership aspirations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress