AZG Armenian Daily #143, 26/07/2008
Armenia-Turkey
ARMENIA SUBJECT TO EVERYDAY DISCUSSION IN TURKEY
On June 23, as Azg Daily already informed, head of the Turkish
Historical Society prof. Yusuf Halacoglu was dismissed from his
office. On the previous day, as "Hurriet" informed on July 24, the
Armenian Constant Representative to the UN Armen Martirosian attended
a reception organized at the "Turkish House" in New York, organized by
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan.
As Babacan had arrived in the USA in order to ensure assistance in the
coming election of UN non-permanent members, Mr. Martirosian was asked
whether Armenia shall support the candidacy of Turkey or not. The
Armenian diplomat answered that Armenia has not received any help
request from Turkey.
On July 24 Babacan held a press conference. But the press conference
turned out to be dedicated rather to the Armenian representative’s
participation in the July 22 reception and the dismissal of Halacoglu,
rather Turkey’s chances in the UN elections.
Babacan said that Armenian representative to the UN Armen Martirosian
was invited to the reception by the Turkish side; therefore the
dismissal of Halacoglu cannot be perceived either as caused by Armen
Martirosian’s visit to the "Turkish House" in New York or by Turkey’s
willingness to improve its relations with Armenia.
The Turkish Foreign Minister underscored, "Indeed we are willing to
create atmosphere of dialog and improving our relations with
Armenia. Of course many circumstances affect appointments to different
offices in different institutions. Anyways it is wrong to see any
links between those two matters".
Babacan reminded the reporters that the after the presidential
elections the President, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister
of Turkey congratulated the newly-elected authorities of Armenia. He
said that Turkey’s number one goal in its relations with Armenia is to
minimize the controversies and complicated issues.
Then Babacan talked about flights and bus transportation between the
Armenian and Turkish towns, about Armenian employees in Turkey, about
growth of commodity turnover growth between Armenia and Turkey, etc,
etc. He said Turkey cannot neglect Armenia’s troubles with
Azerbaijan. He added that Turkey is making friendly gestures towards
Armenia and that the latter is expected to act likewise in return.
The Turkish Foreign Minister assured that all the controversies may be
settled through talks and emphasized creating a joint Armenian-Turkish
science committee to study together the 1915 events.
The speech of the Foreign Minister of Turkey causes us a great deal of
thought. It is very important that these are not vague demands, but
clear official statements. Anyways those statements themselves are not
that important as their frequency and response of the press
are. Turkey’s everyday press is full of statements and news about
Armenia, which at least makes the Turkish citizens to realize the
necessity of establishing contacts with Armenia. In the meanwhile the
Armenian questions becomes part of the daily agenda of the official
Ankara.
By H. Chaqrian, translated by A.M.