THE NECESSITY OF CONDUCTING AN ACTIVE FOREIGN POLICY
Gevorg Haroutyunyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
09 Oct 2008
Armenia

Interview with KIRO MANOYAN, person-in-charge for the "Hay Dat"
and Political Affairs Office of the ARFD Bureau

"Mr. Manoyan, how do you estimate the current state of the
Armenian-Turkish relations?"

"There are certain questionable points with regard to the
Armenian-Turkish relations. The thing is that Turkey either creates an
opportunity for information leakage or disseminates misinformation. And
unfortunately, the Armenian diplomacy doesn’t make an equivalent
response to that. Whereas, this fact gives way to new concerns both in
the political circles of Armenia and the foreign policy spheres which
have a consistent approach towards the recognition of the Genocide.

I think it is possible to demonstrate a more active and consistent
approach with regard to this issue and oppose and respond to
any misinformation or prevent it from penetrating into our public
perception. Moreover, society should receive additional information
about the current activities and developments."

"Anyway, is there an opportunity or necessity for normalizing the
relations with Turkey?"

"That the recent geopolitical developments have created favorable
conditions for establishing relations with Turkey is a fact. At the
same time, it is also a fact that Turkey is, for certain20goals and
reasons, interested in establishing relations with Armenia and somehow
revising the policy it conducted in relation to our country over the
past 18 years.

This first of all means that our country must be able to make maximum
use of this opportunity and unflinchingly implement the policy it has
adopted. And that means to open the border with Turkey and establish
diplomatic ties without any precondition.

In my opinion, there is such opportunity at present. It is left
to us to assume such a consistent posture that will enable us to
make an effective use of all the existing opportunities. The thing
is that Turkey wants to profit by the occasion and derive certain
benefits for itself. And it again reiterates the preconditions that
have always been and will always be unacceptable for Armenia. It is
at least as important for Turkey to have diplomatic ties and open
borders with Armenia as it is important for Armenia to have normal
relations with Turkey.

A lot depends on Armenia’s activities and posture. At the same time,
there are a lot of things depending on Turkey’s future activities. Even
now it is not clear what Turkey wants and what goals it pursues. Yes,
our neighbor attaches value to its interests and potentials. However,
it is difficult to insist that the ruling and influential forces in
Turkey evaluate their interests from this particular standpoint."

"Is it p ossible to insist that Turkey has been reviewing its foreign
policy orientations after August 7? Does complementary foreign policy
remain as expedient for Armenia as it was during the past 10 years?"

"It is really necessary to state that the short war in our region
changed a lot both in the South Caucasus and all over the world. Many
programs and initiatives that were improbable and impossible before
this war seem quite probable and feasible now. And just on the
contrary: a lot of things that were possible before the war have now
become impossible.

Clearly, there is some rivalry among certain geopolitical forces
in our region. However, it is necessary to state that the conflict
of interests among these forces does not derive from the interests
of Armenia. The thing is that our country will have less or no
opportunities in such circumstances and will have to continue
conducting the complementary policy it has adopted. Our country’s
complementary policy is that Armenia never seeks its interests in
the conflict among the other forces; it rather tries to combine and
coordinate the interests of those forces with its own ones.

Based on this principle, Armenia should deepen and extend the
relationship with Russia, its strategic ally, but at the same time,
it should also establish the same kind of deep and comprehensive
relations with the European Union. It should do this not only
as a country i ncluded in the EU ‘New Neighborhood’ program but
also as a state moving towards the European Union and the European
integration. Armenia should have such consistent and firm relations
with the United States and other influential states.

To achieve all this, Armenia should inevitably conduct a much more
active foreign policy."

To be continued