ANALYSIS-Georgia war boosts Turkey-Armenia thaw
07 Sep 2008 13:51:18 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Paul de Bendern
ANKARA, Sept 7 (Reuters) – The first visit by a Turkish leader to
Armenia should give momentum to help mend almost a century of hostility
with the Caucasus country made more urgent since Russia’s war with
Georgia.
President Abdullah Gul’s trip to Yeveran on Saturday carried huge
symbolic importance for neighbours with no diplomatic ties and whose
relationship is haunted by the killings of hundreds of thousands of
Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during World War One.
"A beautiful beginning," Turkish newspaper Vatan said on its front
page. "A hope-inspiring meeting," said the daily Radikal.
The presidents of Turkey and Armenia held talks and watched a World Cup
qualifier soccer match together during an encounter they said could
help herald a new beginning in ties and aid regional security. Their
foreign ministers would now work to build on what was achieved during
Gul’s one-day visit.
"What has transpired (in Georgia) shows how fragile the region is and
how hot the atmosphere is there," Gul told reporters on his aircraft to
Yerevan.
"As a president I am not going to sweep big problems under the carpet
… I hope this visit will create an opportunity to initiate goodwill
to solve relations between Armenia and Turkey."
No immediate breakthrough was expected but the fact Gul and his
counterpart Serzh Sarksyan met despite intense domestic nationalist
opposition suggested a desire to make amends.
"The Georgia war was a great cover for Turkey to move forward on
Armenia," said Hugh Pope, an author on Turkey and Central Asia and
analyst for the International Crisis Group. "Armenia really needs a way
out too. It has a lot to gain."
Turkey has never opened an embassy in Armenia and in 1993 Ankara closed
their land border in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan, a
Turkic-speaking ally which was fighting Armenian-backed separatists
over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Turkey hopes the conflict over Georgia’s rebel region of South Ossetia
will give new impetus to solve Nagorno-Karabakh.
SETTLING DISPUTES, ENERGY
If Turkey and Armenia can move beyond the symbolism to re-establish
normal relations, that could have huge significance for Turkey’s role
as a regional power, for energy flows from the Caspian Sea and for
Western influence in the South Caucasus region.
Better ties would also boost Ankara’s European Union membership bid.
France, for instance, has raised concerns about a border dispute
between Turkey and smaller Armenia.
Russia’s decision last month to send its forces into Georgia, an
ex-Soviet state which borders both Armenia and Turkey convinced many
that it was time for Ankara and Yerevan to put their differences aside.
"Turkey has wanted to make friends with its neighbours and the
governing AK Party’s philosophy is clearly different from the old
Turkish republican philosophy. It has a more flexible view on
minorities and is not so categorical on what are the good and bad
guys," said Pope.
Landlocked Armenia, a Soviet republic until 1991, could also derive
enormous benefits from the opening of the frontier with its large
neighbour and the restoration of a rail link.
Western-backed pipelines shipping oil and gas from the Caspian Sea to
Turkey’s Mediterranean coast bypass Armenia and bend north instead to
go through Georgia.
With that route looking vulnerable after the Russian intervention,
Armenia could be an attractive alternative.
GENOCIDE?
Ties between Ankara and Yerevan are strained over Armenia’s claim,
supported by many Western historians, that up to 1.5 million of its
people were killed in a genocide. Turkey denies there was genocide and
says the deaths were the result of inter-ethnic conflict that also
killed many Muslim Turks.
Gul’s visit could give fodder to pro-Turkey U.S. politicians who are
lobbying Congress not to pass a resolution calling the mass killings of
Armenians genocide, analysts said.
The circumstances of the killing of Armenians is a highly sensitive
issue for both Turkey and Armenia. Asserting that there was an Armenian
genocide is still a crime in Turkey.
But Gul told reporters on his plane back to Ankara that during his
talks with Sarksyan there was no mention or even hint of the issue, a
sign Turkish diplomats told Reuters that the emotive issue no longer
held monopoly over relations.
"Each side recognises that to move forward each side has had to break
out of their old positions," said a senior Turkish diplomat, who
declined to be named. "Too much is at stake and we are still at an
early stage here."
The challenges remain daunting.
Armenian fans booed the Turkish national anthem, and demonstrators held
torches and flowers in silent vigil at an imposing monument to the
World War One killings on a hillside behind the stadium in Yerevan.
Protesters lined the streets of Yerevan holding banners that read:
"1915 – Never Again" and "We Demand Justice". (Additional reporting by
Selcuk Gokoluk in Ankara) (Editing by Janet Lawrence)
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
