Hürriyet, Turkey Sept 6 2008
Turkey ready to discuss diplomatic ties with Armenia
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said diplomatic ties would be
discussed during his historic trip to Armenia to watch a football
match Saturday but warned against raising expectations.
The football diplomacy is a significant move for two countries that
have waged a bitter diplomatic battle over Armenia’s invasion of
Azerbaijani territory and attempts to have 1915 incidents classified
as genocide.
It would be the first visit by a Turkish president since the former
Soviet republic gained its independence in 1991.
"We don’t have any diplomatic relations right now with the
Armenians. What are we going to do about this? (It is) another area of
discussion," for the Yerevan talks, Babacan told journalists late
Friday on the sidelines of an EU foreign ministers meeting at Avignon,
southern France.
"I don’t think we should raise expectations that high," for the
negotiations, he added.
"But on the other hand, when we open the doors for dialogue that means
we are ready to talk about the problems."
The rapprochement is an indirect result of the Georgia-Russia
conflict, which Babacan described as an "alarming" scenario.
The fighting in neighboring Georgia "showed we need to come up with a
fresh approach to resolution of conflict in the Caucasus," he said,
and that meant including Armenia.
He said that while problems remained in the region Turkey’s "vision"
was to turn recent events "into an opportunity for lasting peace and
stability."
Ankara had thus proposed the setting up of a "Caucasus platform for
stability and cooperation" embracing Georgia, Russia, Armenia and the
rest of the region in an informal grouping to discuss the gamut of
issues.
On the 1915 incidents, Babacan said Turkey had opened its files and
proposed a joint historic commission to investigate.
"History should be written by experts, by historians, history should
not be decided by politicians," he said.
Before heading to Armenia, Babacan was taking part in a meeting with
the foreign ministers of the European Union, of which Turkey is a
candidate nation.
"When we look at the map of the Caucasus, we also see Armenia," said
Babacan.
The Turkish minister said it was sheer luck the two countries were
picked to play each other, but that "then it turned out to be a good
opportunity, so to say, to start discussing directly the issues we
have."
He declined to try and predict the result.