SARKSYAN PROPOSES ‘FRESH START’ FOR GRADUAL NORMALIZATION
Today’s Zaman
July 10 2008
Turkey
Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan has issued an open call and proposed
"a fresh start" in relations between estranged neighbors Armenia
and Turkey, while suggesting that dialogue would eventually lead to
normalization of relations between the two countries.
"The time has come for a fresh effort to break this deadlock, a
situation that helps no one and hurts many. As president of Armenia,
I take this opportunity to propose a fresh start — a new phase of
dialogue with the government and people of Turkey, with the goal of
normalizing relations and opening our common border," Sarksyan said
in an opinion piece published yesterday in The Wall Street Journal.
"After my election in February, my Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul,
was one of the first heads of state to congratulate me. Turkey’s Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that the doors are open to
new dialogue in this new period," Sarksyan explained in his article,
titled "We Are Ready to Talk to Turkey."
"There is no real alternative to the establishment of normal relations
between our countries. It is my hope that both of our governments
can pass through the threshold of this new open door. … We cannot
expect tangible progress without such structured relations. Only
through them can we create an effective dialogue touching upon even
the most contentious historical issues," he suggested.
In Ankara, diplomatic sources welcomed the article, saying that Turkey
would be pleased with initiatives for eventual normalization of ties
with the neighboring country. "Such messages are helpful. Yet our
proposal to establish a joint commission of historians is still on the
table, and we have not yet received any response to our letter sent
to Yerevan," the same diplomatic sources, who requested anonymity,
however, emphasized while speaking with Today’s Zaman.
The sources were referring to Prime Minister Erdogan’s 2005 letter to
then-Armenian President Robert Kocharian, inviting him to establish
a joint commission of historians and experts from both Turkey and
Armenia to study the events of 1915 using documents from the archives
of Turkey, Armenia and any other country believed to have played
a part in the issue. No positive response has yet been received to
this offer. Over the weekend President Gul held the first courtesy
meeting with Sarksyan, elected in February.
On the sidelines of weekend festivities in Astana to celebrate the
10th birthday of the Kazakh capital city, Gul spoke briefly with
Azerbaijani President Ä°lham Aliyev and Sarksyan at the Akorda
presidential palace. Speaking to reporters later, Gul called his
conversation with Sarksyan and Aliyev a "courtesy meeting." During
the conversation Gul congratulated Sarksyan on his election to the
presidency and told him that he had received a formal invitation to
visit Yerevan for a football match in September. "We are assessing
the invitation," Gul briefly told reporters, when asked whether he
would accept the invitation. Armenia and Turkey will play against each
other in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Sept. 6 in a qualifying
match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, scheduled to be held in South Africa.
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