ARMENIA VETOES TURKISH OSCE OBSERVERS

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 8 2007

Independent Turkish observers, who were scheduled on Monday to
depart from Ýstanbul for Yerevan in order to fulfill their duty in
the upcoming elections in neighboring Armenia under an assignment
by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
had to return to Ankara after "a last minute veto" by Armenia.

Dr. Mithat Celikpala, an expert on the Caucasian region and an
OSCE election observer, told Hurriyet daily upon his arrival in
Ankara on Monday that he was notified of "Armenia’s veto" at the
airport and that other Turkish observers assigned by OSCE have been
waiting in Ankara for further information from Yerevan in order to
decide whether they will be allowed to travel to Armenia. The Turkish
observers were scheduled to depart for Yerevan on Monday and Tuesday,
Hurriyet also said.

Diplomatic sources, speaking with Today’s Zaman under condition of
anonymity confirmed the Ataturk Airport incident. The same sources,
however, were not able to elaborate for the moment, only saying that
the Foreign Ministry has been closely following the issue.

In late February Armenian Parliament Speaker Tigran Torosyan sent
an invitation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE), the European Parliament and the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) parliamentary assemblies in addition to the OSCE, calling
on them to participate in observing the parliamentary elections
scheduled for May 12, Russian news agency Regnum reported at the time.

Both Turkey and Armenia are members of the OSCE, with Ankara
participating in the organization in 1973, and the latter in 1992.

Ankara has recognized Yerevan since the former Soviet republic gained
independence in 1991, but nevertheless refuses to set up diplomatic
ties because of Armenian efforts to secure international condemnation
of the controversial World War I era killings of Anatolian Armenians
as genocide. Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin were
slaughtered in orchestrated killings during the last years of the
Ottoman Empire. Turkey categorically rejects the claims, saying that
300,000 Armenians along with at least as many Turks died in civil
strife which emerged when the Armenians took up arms for independence
in eastern Anatolia and sided with the Russian troops which were
invading Ottoman lands.

In 1993 Turkey also shut its border with Armenia in a show of
solidarity with its close ally Azerbaijan, which was at war with
Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, dealing a heavy economic
blow to the impoverished nation. Ankara wants Armenia to abandon its
campaign for the recognition of the killings as genocide and make
progress in its dispute with Baku before formal diplomatic relations
can be established.

The sole Armenian diplomat based in Turkey is Karen Mirzoyan, Armenia’s
permanent representative to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
(BSEC). The Armenian representative office was opened in 2001.

–Boundary_(ID_NQgLHAhiOtUGPZRR/S2sqw)–