ARMENIA TO BE CAUTIOUS IN ITS RELATIONS WITH TURKEY
Gevorg Haroutyunyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
12 Sep 2008
Armenia

Interview with VAHAN HOVHANNISYAN, member of the ARFD Bureau and Head
of the ARFD parliamentary faction

"The ARFD Bureau convened an extraordinary plenary session in
Yerevan on September 9-10, with agenda issues concerning the complex
political-military situation in our region and the Armenian-Turkish
relations. What was the urgency of touching upon these issues once
again?"

"There are practically no Armenian-Turkish relations at present. Turkey
is trying to penetrate into our region in the role of a conciliator,
coordinator and a bearer of a new concept. It proposes its conceptual
platform of stability and security. However, such role can be assumed
only by an impartial force having no bias in the region. The aim of
all our demands is to have Turkey prove the unbiased and impartial
nature of its role and activities.

If Turkey desires to assume the role of a conciliator in our region,
it should first of all prove its impartiality in the context of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.

Turkey has become a direct party to the Karabakh-Azerbaijani
conflict. It is the supporter of Azerbaijan, its military ally; it is
a party implementing Turkey’s hostile, anti-Armenia policy. Blockade
is nothing more than an act of hostility. As to Georgia, the second
state in the

region, Turkey involves it in its various anti-Armenian political
and military programs.

In this respect, Turkey’s role as a conciliator in the region is
incomprehensible. And if Turkey is going to establish relations
with our country in this context, it should first of all waive its
anti-Armenian posture.

Turkey’s anti-Armenian policy has two trends. First, it is directed
against Armenia. Turkey has encircled Armenia, deprived it from
energy corridors or has done its best to prevent those corridors
from entering the territory of Armenia. As to the second trend, it is
directed against the Armenians in general. Turkey denies the fact of
the Armenian Genocide and continues the same genocide at present by
way of destroying the Armenian monuments and rooting out everything
that has Armenian origins throughout the territory of Western Armenia.

If Turkey changes its posture with regard to these two manifestations,
we will see that there has been a positive progress in the neighboring
country’s policy in relation to Armenia and the Armenian nation.

In the statement released after the plenary session of the ARFD Bureau,
we have particularly mentioned one of our fundamental positions:
the meetings between the Presidents and Foreign Ministers of both
countries should be followed by some positive steps by Turkey.

In response to our President’s gesture of tolerance, the President of
Turkey may offer the Euro pean Union a ‘high price’ for its posture,
pretending that it is far from its prejudices of the past and is
tolerant. Whereas Turkey should continue making steps. And if it
doesn’t, that will mean that the Turkish President responded to our
President’s gesture of tolerance solely with propaganda purposes."

"Mr. Hovhannisyan, can the current situation in our region push
Turkey to recognizing the Armenian Genocide, revising its attitude
towards the problem of Artsakh, establishing diplomatic relations
with Armenia and opening the border?"

"I think the solutions you pointed out should be classified into two
main groups. We have never denied the fact that the opening of the
borders, the communication channels and the energy corridors can be
useful for Armenia. Clearly, it also gives us economic opportunities
and so on and so forth. However, there are also risks here, and it
is not known to what extent those risks are estimated, and to what
extent our economy is ready to resist new challenges. The positive
will also be accompanied by what is harmful and dangerous, but this
balance has not yet been clarified by anyone.

Turkey will have no less if not more economic advantages in comparison
with us. The thing is that Turkey is solving the same economic problem:
it is creates a stimulus for developing the stagnant regions of Western
Armenia and gets the opportunity to reach the oriental markets via
the transit corridors of Armenia.

As to Turkey’s political interest, it is just incomparable with our
expectations. The thing is that Turkey is, in this way, eliminating
one of the most important obstacles towards the EU membership. Our
political interest, as mentioned in the release of the ARFD Bureau,
should be the change of Turkey’s attitude towards the problem of
Artsakh and the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. We do not even
assume that those steps should be made in a very quick manner and
in a single stage as we realize that the Turkish society may not be
ready for such an abrupt turning.

But this means that the Turkish elite should prepare its society,
as well as the society of Azerbaijani for this political change."

To be continued