BABACAN’S ADDRESS TO RA FOREIGN MINISTER WAS AS WARM AS TURKISH PRESIDENT’S TO SERGE SARKISIAN
By H. Chaqrian
AZG Armenian Daily
22/04/2008
Armenia-Turkey
On the occasion of victory on the presidential elections of February
19 Serge Sarkisian was congratulated by the presidents of France,
Russia and Georgia, as well as president of Turkey Abdullah Gul.
On April 15 the Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to France Edward
Nalbandian was dismissed from his office and appointed Minister of
Foreign Affairs by the presidential decree. On April 19 Mr. Nalbandian
was congratulated by the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Iran,
Greece and Turkey.
A day after Foreign Minister of Turkey Babacan congratulated Edward
Nalbandian, the Turkish pTV, referring to the Armenian, reported the
words of the Minister, "I am sure Your diplomatic experience shall
be useful for Your country and that we shall be able to establish
necessary dialogue in order to reach the desirable goals"
On the same day, April 20, the Turkish press, following the example of
the television, represented Nalbandian’s welcome speech as a message
addressed to Turkey. "Radikal" newspaper wrote, "Armenia, which had
refused to create a joint scientific commission in connection to
study the 1915 events, offered Turkey an olive branch by electing
Serge Sarkisian a president.
The newly appointed Foreign Minister of Armenia expressed willingness
to start dialogue with turkey without preconditions in order to
normalize the relations. Although the Minister repeated the official
doctrine of Yerevan about 1915 events, he said he advocates forgetting
that dark pages of the past and forging our future security. Stressing
the strategic importance of the Southern Caucasian region, Nalbandian
noted that normalizing the relations between the states of the region
and settling all the controversies shall benefit all of them."
In general, the address of the Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan to
the newly appointed Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian was
rather warm, as well as the message of Turkish President Abdullah Gul
to Serge Sarkisian. The Turkish press has also been more cautious when
commenting on Armenia since then. Evidently it is caused by official
Ankara’s approach to the Armenian issue from the national point of
view, and the Turkish press has always been loyal to the authorities.
It is worth mentioning, that the friendly messages of Gul and
Babacan imply neither global revision on Turkey’s policy on Armenia
nor concessions in preconditions. Nevertheless it is possible that
the publication of the messages in the Turkish press will a little
improve the social opinion about Armenia in Turkey.