"REASONS OF IRAN’S INTERESTS IN ARMENIA ARE HARD TO EXPLAIN," TURKISH POLITICIANS SAY
By H. Chaqrian
AZG Armenian Daily
30/10/2007
On October 22 president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived on a
tw-day official visit to Armenia, accompanied by Foreign Minister
of Iran Manouchehr Mottaki. The latter circumstance confirms the
importance of the visit or the Iranian side. As it has been reported
by "Azg", the visit agenda included a private conversation of the
President of Armenia and Iran, a meeting of the Iranian delegation
with representatives of the Armenian authorities, visit of the Iranian
President to the Genocide Memorial and the Yerevan State University. A
number of bilateral agreements on power engineering, communications,
economy and regional security were signed between Armenia and Iran
on the first day of the visit.
After this President Ahmadinejad unexpectedly returned to Iran. This
fact roused interest in Armenian and foreign political circles,
especially in Turkey. On October 25 three articles by different
authors were published in the Bulletin of the Armenian Researches
Institute of the Eurasian Strategic Research Center, Ankara.
The Turkish authors were glad to report that Ahmadinejad avoided
visiting the Armenian Genocide Memorial and the National Assembly
of Armenia, where he had to speak about the Genocide. Of course,
the Turkish political scientists explained these circumstances by
the importance and the great influence that the relations with Turkey
have on the foreign policy of Iran. Nevertheless they proved unable
to conceal their irritation.
"Iran’s relations with Armenia," wrote Fitrek Ertan, "are on the
way of their development; the intensity of reciprocal presidential
visit is growing. Although Ahmadinejad aborted his visit to Armenia,
he failed to state that Iran shall not always support Armenia in the
issue of 1915’s events, and reminded that April 24 is remembered in
Iran each year. Therefore, Ahmadinejad, who broke up his visit so
as to emphasize the importance of Iran-Turkey relations, also proved
that Iranian-Armenian relations are of great importance, too."
Yildiz Bozturk pointed out the following statement of the Iranian
President in response to a question about the Genocide, "Each country
has to reappraise its history. First, it will help to avoid repetition
o the errors of the past, and second, Iran as always stood by Armenia’s
side." Yilmaz Oztuna, who qualified the debatable visit as another
expression of Armenian-Iranian partnership, stated with amazement,
"Reasons of Iran’s interests in Armenia are hard to explain."
Most probably, Ahmadinejad’s hasty departure was planned in order to
avoid speaking about the Armenian Genocide. Such approach cannot be
welcome. On the other hand, when condemning the president of Iran,
we should take into consideration the USA’s plans of isolating Iran
and depriving it of the assistance of its neighbors. In spite of
the policy of Washington, Prime Minister of Turkey advocates the
development of Turkey-Iran relations and takes relevant measures.
Otherwise, the present political circumstances and the threat
of USA’s armed invasion restricted Ahmadinejad from meeting our
expectations. Spoiling the relations with Turkey would be a fatal
mistake for Ahmadinejad, as in that case he would walk straight into
the trap of Washiongton.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
