IN TURKEY ERDOGHAN’S AMBITIOUS PLANS ABOUT BUILDING A JOINT FUTURE ARE IN DOUBT

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.06.2007 GMT+04:00

One of the most important achievements of the Summit of the
Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation is that EU was
granted the status of observer in BSEC.

The jubilee Summit of BSEC ended with the adoption of the concluding
declaration, where the participants of the Summit spoke of their
intention to make the Black Sea region a stable and prosperous part
of Europe. The BSEC member countries have agreed upon expending the
cooperation especially in the sphere of energy.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In the document the parties announced about a
number of important events. "The initiative regarding the project
of the regional cooperation in the Black Sea region justified all
the efforts. Regarding this the parties are willing to continue the
further consolidation of the role of BSEC as an active and reliable
partner in the regional and international affairs. We confirm the
wish to strengthen the cooperation in the sphere of energy taking
into account the interests of the countries, which produce, use and
transfer it," the Declaration states.

According to the Turkish Prime Minister Redgep Erdoghan the Istanbul
Summit will be the turning point in the BSEC activity. "At last we
began the realization of the practical projects. The joint economic
projects among the countries will help to find ways to conflict
resolution in the region and to establish friendly relationship
between the countries of the Black Sea Region," mentioned the Turkish
Prime-Minister. However the Turkish mass media put Erdoghan’s ambitious
plans about building a joint future in doubt. The skepticism was caused
by the announcement made by the RA Minister of Foreign Affairs Vartan
Oskanyan, saying that for developing economic and commercial relations
between Armenia and Turkey, Ankara should first of all open the borders
with Armenia and recognize the Armenian Genocide. "If you take the
dialogue between Yerevan and Ankara seriously, be so kind to first of
all open the borders. If the Armenian-Turkish border is opened, the
Armenian side will be ready to establish cooperation on the government
level for discussing the problems which impede the normalization of
the relations between our countries," noted Vartan Oskanyan.

Oskanyan also mentioned that the absence of the Armenian President
can be explained with the absence of the diplomatic relations
between Armenia and Turkey. "Black Sea has united us during many
centuries. Today we have the same possibility though we don’t take
advantage of this chance in our interest. Sometimes the water is so
deep that we prefer to stay away from it. I think that the political
potential of BSEC isn’t completely covered," underlined the Head of
the RA Department of Foreign Policy.

Vartan Oskanyan also spoke about the Karabakh Conflict,
underlining that "the people of Nagorno-Karabakh have the right
of self-determination and security", which was followed by Ilham
Aliyev’s usual answer, "The war is not over. Only the first stage is
over. The present situation can’t go on forever and we will not let
our territories "in occupation". Strangely enough nothing was said
about the refugees, though he didn’t forget to mention about the 20%
of the Azeri territories that "Armenia has to vacate immediately".

One of the most important achievements of the summit of the
Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) is that EU was
granted the status of observer in BSEC. According to RF Ministry
of Foreign Affairs it is only the first step. "Equal and mutually
beneficial cooperation will give a boost to building the Big Europe
with no separating lines," believes the First Deputy of the RF Minister
of Foreign Affairs Denisov. However everything is not as smooth
as Russia believes. According to the economist Fatiha Arslan, the
Black Sea region plays a greater role for energy transportation. "We
support the Russian project of establishing a joint energy circle
which would allow connecting all the energy systems of the European
countries in the Black Sea region. As the Russian President assures
each country will have free access to the source. However in Turkey
truthfulness of such announcements are in doubt and it is assured that
such announcements are dictated by the desire of gaining control over
the energy transportation," he believes.

"PanARMENIAN.Net" analytical department